A/N: Again, thanks so much to everyone who reviews. I keep trying to respond to all of them, but I'm getting a bit behind. As per request, I tried to add a bit of Professor Malfoy's general attitude & interactions with the students. Someone mentioned that they didn't care about Ginny's shoes (last chapter) but this story is not as dark and angsty as my other ones. This is my fun story! Hope you like it!
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CHAPTER 5 Halloween, Hickeys, and Holidays
The Costume Ball hadn't been held for nearly 10 years. Ginny vaguely recalled hearing Charlie and maybe Bill talk about it, but she wasn't quite sure what the whole thing was about. Most wizards didn't dress up and beg for candy on Halloween since it was easy enough to obtain ones own sweets. When Dumbledore announced that the Costume Ball would be held on Halloween, Zoë was absolutely thrilled.
"What's so exciting?" Bianca asked. "Dressing up like ancient witches isn't so much fun. Those bloody corsets are painful!"
"Corset's are sexy," Zoë dismissed her.
"I don't know many sexy ancient witches," Ginny giggled.
"Who's dressing up like some old witch?" Zoë demanded.
Colin chuckled. "Muggles do Halloween a little differently."
Zoë nodded. "Think sexy."
Zoë's costume, if you could call it that, turned out to be something she kept calling a cheerleader. She wore the tiniest pleated, pink skirt Ginny had ever seen and a matching pink tank top that she had used a severing charm on so that it showed a good six inches of flesh on her stomach. She had managed to have the word "Hogwarts" embroidered in white across the chest. She wore plain white trainers and carried two big things called pom poms, also in pink and white, and had her hair parted into two ponytails, one on each side of her head.
"Are you sure Muggles wear that?" Bianca asked doubtfully. "It's almost indecent."
"They do," Zoë said airily. "And they cheer for things like American football and
basketball."
"What's basketball?" Ginny asked warily.
"Never mind. They're sports."
"How do they cheer?"
"Like this." Zoë proceeded to jump around the room, waving her pom poms in the air and flashing her pink knickers more than once.
"Please don't do that at the Ball," Bianca begged, her eyes bulging and her cheeks flushing pink. "Your knickers were showing."
"These are hot pants," she informed them. "Not knickers."
To no one's surprise, Bianca was going to the Ball as a princess complete with a tiara, jewels, and a huge sparkling gown. "I didn't think Professor's could have student dates."
"Me neither," Ginny giggled. "I guess he asked Dumbledore though. Dumbledore stopped me in the hall last week and said that we should exercise our best judgment with each other."
"What does that mean?" Bianca asked, pinning up her hair.
"I think it means that we shouldn't get too much gossip going."
"Yeah," Zoë added. "No shagging on the potions tables or anything."
Ginny snorted. "No one has to worry about that!"
Zoë's date, Gable, was wearing only a pair of long, brightly flowered swimming shorts, and carrying a long board that people kept having to duck to avoid getting hit with, and he seemed to know immediately what Zoë's costume was.
Ginny had decided to go as a pirate, and was beginning to regret that she had allowed Zoë to help her with the costume. The black skirt was cut jaggedly around the hem, exposing quite a bit of thigh, and the black button down top was tight and form fitting, the buttons stopping right at her cleavage. The top had gold buttons and cuff links to match her gold hoop earrings, and the heeled shoes had gold buckles. The sword swinging at her side looked incredibly real, so Ginny had decided not to ask where Zoë had procured it. On her head she wore a wide brimmed hat, and on the upper right hand side of her chest, just below her shoulder, Zoë had learned a spell to cast a temporary tattoo of sorts, showing a vicious skull and crossbones. Honestly, Ginny was reminded of the Dark Mark, and was glad it didn't show.
Ginny met Draco at the bottom of the main staircase and as she descended, Bianca hissed in her ear, "No wonder you fancy him. Look how sexy he is!"
And he was sexy. His blond hair seemed to hang longer tonight and his eyes glittered a deeper, shinier silver. He wore a pair of 19th century style velvet maroon knee length breeches with a matching jacket, white stockings and black shoes. Underneath the jacket was a long sleeved white shirt, the kind that had ruffles coming out the front of the jacket and from beneath the cuffs. He smiled as he caught her eye and she could see fangs; two perfect white fangs, gleaming in the candlelight and looking as wickedly delectable as he did.
"Oh my dear sweet Circe," Zoë let out a small growl. "He looks so effing good."
Draco caught her arm at the bottom of the stairs and whispered in her ear, "Good evening to you, my lady."
They spent most of the evening dancing, but Ginny quite honestly couldn't wait to get him alone and try out his fangs.
"That's not really how vampires look," Luna informed Ginny while she waited for Draco to refill her drink. "They're really not attractive at all."
Ginny knew that too, but at the moment, Draco was radiating sexiness and she wanted a piece.
"Shall we make an escape?" he growled into her ear as they danced in small circles. "We've got about an hour before midnight."
"Definitely," she breathed.
"I'm supposed to make a patrol of the gardens," he informed her. "So let's go."
They made their way to the gardens, which had been heated with warming charms, and were full of seasonal orange and black flowers. After Draco chased out several snogging couples and deducted more points than was really necessary, they settled on a bench hidden within a small circle of shrubs.
Draco pulled Ginny into his lap and drove his lips into hers. She gasped into his mouth as she felt the sharpness of his fangs graze her lips.
"You look amazing," he told her, his warm breath passing over her neck.
"So do you," she answered, capturing his lips again.
His kisses moved from her lips to her ears and from her ears to her neck, sending spasm after spasm down her spine despite the warm air.
They parted reluctantly when the great clock chimed midnight and used the walk back to the castle to chase more snogging couples inside. He gave her one last kiss on the hand and whispered goodnight, then watched as she ascended the stairs to the Gryffindor tower.
"Looks like someone had a good night," Zoë shrieked gleefully as Ginny entered their room.
Ginny dropped back on her bed. "I had a great night!"
"We can tell," Bianca smiled.
"By the massive hickey on your neck!" Zoë finished.
Ginny slapped both hands to her neck. "Are you serious?"
Bianca nodded.
Ginny ran for the mirror and let out a groan.
Zoë couldn't stop giggling. "I guess those fangs really did work."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I don't think he actually bit me!"
The next morning, Bianca performed a covering spell on Ginny's neck, so that the hickey was only noticeable if someone tried to find it.
***
When the Holidays rolled around Ginny was in near panic over her amount of homework. She had managed to fall behind because she spent so much of her free time with Draco, and what time she wasn't with him, she was usually on the Quidditch pitch, practicing for the upcoming game against Slytherin. She was still considering, however, doing like the rest of her friends, and using the Holidays as a mini vacation from homework. After all, if she went back to the Burrow without her books, there was nothing anyone could do about it.
But three days before the term ended, she received and owl from her mum that was three pages long.
I can't believe you did not let us know that you and Harry were no longer seeing each other. What happened? You two are a perfect match. You know we wanted Harry as a member of our family. Imagine my surprise when Ron mentioned that Harry and Hermione had gone on a date. Were you even planning on letting us know?
And on and on it went.
That settles it, Ginny thought grimly. She was going to stay at school for the Holidays and finish her homework. She wrote back to her mum, not even acknowledging her breakup, but instead listing the homework she still had to complete.
12 inches of parchment on squaring potions
15 inches of parchment on the complications involved in human transfiguration
12 inches of parchment of the squared deflector spell
10 inches of parchment on the care of dragons in their natural habitat
complete sky chart for month of December
6 inches of parchment on the movements of the binary stars systems in the constellation Libra
10 inches of parchment on the advanced blood loss prevention charm
At the end of her letter, she chewed on her quill before deciding to add a quick post script. Harry and I decided not to say anything because we're still good friends.
On the last day of the term, Draco announced that he needed to see Ms. Cantrella, Mr. Creevey, and Ms. Weasley after class. Zoë and Colin looked at Ginny nervously, and she shrugged slightly. She had no idea what he wanted.
The dismissal bell rang, and several students lagged behind, curious.
"Five points from each of you!" Draco snapped, sending them scurrying out the door.
He looked at the three of them. "I just need to see Ginny. This just made it less obvious."
Zoë giggled and pulled Colin out the door.
"Yes Professor?" Ginny asked in her most sultry voice, siding up to him.
"McGonagall said you were staying for the Holidays." He wrapped his arms around her waist.
Ginny nodded. "I have a mountain of homework to finish."
"Good," he smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the nose. "Then I'll stay too."
"Then you can help me with my studies!"
Ginny let herself sleep in until noon the next day, figuring a good night's sleep would help her with her studies as much as anything. She showered, rushed down to the Great Hall to grab some fruit, and then met Draco in the library. They were the only people in there, as even Madame Pince was gone for Christmas. Ginny tackled her charms homework first while Draco graded the stack of quizzes he had so generously popped on his students the day before.
"Crap. This is crap. This one too. Horrible. Awful. Ugh, this is the worst one yet. Hm, okay. Hideous. Acceptable." Draco used nearly an entire bottle of red ink on the first stack of papers. Ginny found it amusing, the way he treated the other students. During class, he never gave her any special treatments, docking points when she talked too much or let her potions burn. He was hard on all the students, and the first years were particularly petrified of him. Draco as he was around Ginny was not the same person as Professor Malfoy. Professor Malfoy loved to dock points and assign stacks of homework and hand out massive detentions, which he always let Filtch fulfill. The students complained that Snape had been nicer than Draco was.
By dinner time, Ginny had finished the charms assignment, the sky chart, the dragons paper, and started on the deflector spell, while Draco had graded all the quizzes, browsed three Quidditch books, and looked over Ginny's completed homework.
"I think we should take a break until tomorrow," Draco announced, rubbing his stomach. "It's dinner time."
Ginny glanced down, pleased at the amount of work she had accomplished and surprised at how much time had passed.
Somehow, after dinner, Ginny found herself in Draco's room. She knew where it was, but she hadn't been inside it at all. It was slightly larger than his Head Boy room from the previous year with an adjacent private bathroom. She settled into one of the large green chairs in front of the fireplace, and he took the one opposite her. They talked about Quidditch and Draco's plans for his company and their mums and having brothers versus being a single child. The warmth of the fire, her full stomach, and a long day of studying made Ginny drowsy and relaxed, and just as she began to slip into a light sleep, she felt Draco's lips brush her forehead.
She opened her eyes to see him leaning over her. "Ready to go back to your room?"
"Not yet." She held out her arms and pulled Draco to her.
Draco encircled his arms around her, letting his hands rub across her back and kissing her forehead.
"Mm," she mumbled. "That feels good."
"Here, lay down," he instructed. "I'll rub your back before you go to bed."
Ginny complied, lying on her stomach with her face in Draco's pillow. He climbed on top of her, straddling her upper thighs and using perfect pressure as his massaged her back.
The next day was more of the same, homework, a break for snowball fights, homework, dinner, and then a back rub. This time Draco pushed her shirt up, rubbing his hands across her bare skin. His hands stroked down her sides, until she was sure he was attempting to feel her breasts.
"Draco?" she said, after several minutes.
"Hm?" he asked a bit too quickly.
"You know, we can just, um, you can . . ." Unable to spit out the words, she rolled over quickly, and before she could lose her nerve, pulled her shirt over her head. "There."
For about two seconds, Ginny thought his eyes would bulge from his head, and then he regained his composure. Their eyes met for a second, and then he focused on her chest. His hands rose to cup her breast, still hidden beneath the light blue bra and his face dropped to her cleavage, leaving a trail of tiny kisses. He brought his fingers down, allowing them to slip beneath the silky material and Ginny couldn't help herself, she let out a tiny gasp.
Suddenly Draco stopped and withdrew his hands. "You know, I didn't bring you down here just for . . . this. We don't have to do anything." He straightened himself up.
"But I want to," Ginny said, her voice lower than she had planned on.
Draco eyed her for a moment before asking, "Are you sure? I don't want you to do anything you don't want to."
"I'm sure," she answered, pulling him close.
His kisses were hotter this time, nipping at her neck and ears, and then moving down as he fumbled with the clasp of her bra until she reached behind and undid it for him. He placed his hands on her stomach and slowly brought them upward, first his fingers extending over her breasts, then his palms, cupping them, and then bringing his mouth to them. First he kissed her, then placed his mouth over her rigid nipple, stroking it with his tongue and eliciting soft moans from Ginny.
She reached up as he explored her and unbuttoned his shirt, giving in to some primal need to feel his skin against her own. His chest was wonderfully smooth and solid, and Ginny did the same to him, tasting his skin and closing her mouth around his pink nipples and becoming fascinated with his sexy hipbones.
She stayed in his room until well after curfew, and when she looked at the clock she let out a groan. "Filtch is going to murder me!"
"I'll walk you back," Draco offered, not looking in the least bit as if he was ready to let her
go.
"That'll make things worse," she sighed. "Then Dumbledore will be having a talk with us. We told him
we wouldn't do this!"
"Then stay here," he suggested.
"What?"
"Stay in here. Who's going to notice? You said you were the only girl in your dorm."
"I am." Ginny bit her lip. "What if we get caught?"
"Who's going to catch us? The only teachers here are me and Dumbledore and Professor Sprout."
"That's right," Ginny smiled mischievously. "If Professor Malfoy says it's okay for me to be out of bed, then it must be!"
She woke beneath his arm the next morning, and snuggled against him for a moment before sliding out of the bed. She was pulling on her clothes when his eyes opened.
"Where are you going?" he mumbled.
"To shower. I'll be back."
"I want to go to."
"Sorry," she smiled.
"Shower in here," he murmured.
"Why? So you can walk in?"
"Yes," he pouted.
"I'll be back," she told him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "See you at breakfast?"
"No. I'm gonna stay here until you come back!"
Ginny giggled. "Is someone not getting their way?"
"Yes!"
Ginny slipped out into the hall and made her way across the castle until she reached the empty Prefects bathroom. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching, as she wasn't a Prefect and said the password. She loved this bathroom. Hermione had told her about it and given her the password, and so Ginny used it whenever she could. It had two tubs, one that was deep and large enough to swim in, and one that was about the size of a Muggle hottub. That was her favorite. She could sit in it and stretch out with the thick perfumed bubbles and just relax. She quickly stripped of her clothes, looked in the mirror to admire the three hickeys on her chest, and then, ignoring the mirror's disappointed sighs, she turned on the taps to the tub and climbed in.
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