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Hot Gimmick
Mei Queen
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Chapter 3- Thoughts
Sitting in a cushy armchair in the Common Room, Ginny twirled her quill idly through her fingers as she thought about the kiss with Draco the night before. It was hot, that much was for sure. She really didn't know what to do. His kiss intrigued her like none she had ever experienced before…it was romantic, it was engulfing, but more than anything…Ginny felt like with some time, their chemistry had the potential to be even hotter. She had left right after the kiss the night before…she was rather scared of what she might do if she allowed herself to do whatever she wanted to in Draco's presence.
Ginevra didn't want to be attracted to Draco. She really despised the thought of Draco, what he stood for, his insistence upon her servitude, his pompous and egotistical nature; she could go on and on. But that didn't stop her from wanting him. When they were alone in a room together, her disgust with Draco didn't stop her from allowing him to insistently kiss her. Ginevra really wanted to say that she was righteous and wasn't even remotely attracted to him…but she wasn't blind.
Draco was the hottest thing she had ever seen.
The quill slipped from her fingers, interrupting her train of thought. As she was bending down to retrieve it, she felt someone brush against her arm and pick it up for her. "Ginny, um, I really need to talk to you," Harry said, handing back her quill.
Oh, God. This is about that stupid ball…what do I do? Do I tell him I know? Of course not…play it cool, Ginny thought quickly.
"Oh really? What about, Harry? I'm sorry I missed practice last night…um, I just wasn't feeling very well," she said in what she hoped was a sincerely apologetic tone.
"That's totally fine, Gin…are you feeling better now?" Harry asked, his bright emerald eyes showing how concerned he really was.
Aw, that's sweet…he really cares! Ginny thought as she smiled at him, replying, "Much better, thanks!"
"Oh, good, that's really good," Harry trailed off slightly, reddening. "Um…I really just wanted to ask you if you had a date yet for the ball Dumbledore's having."
Ginny smiled at him, thinking quickly. If I accept Harry's invitation, Draco might get mad…but then again, it's doubtful that he would actually take me anyway, what with all of his Slytherin friends hanging around. "Um…I guess I don't, no."
Harry gained some confidence with her reply, and smiled. "Would you like to go with me, then?"
Ginny surveyed Harry thoughtfully. He was certainly handsome. Not in the icy-cool untouchable way, like Draco, but in much more approachable sense. Harry truly embodied the-boy-next-door…although if he lived next door to Ginny her whole life, she was pretty bloody positive she wouldn't still be a virgin.
Ginny smiled back at him. "Sure, why not? As friends though, right?"
She thought she saw his eyes flicker with slight sadness for a moment, but as soon as she noticed it, it was gone and replaced with a jovial air. "Of course, Gin…so what colour do you want to wear?"
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Harry trudged back up to his dorm with a smile on his face. "Just as friends" wasn't exactly what he wanted, but he would take what he could get.
Part of him, a part that was very deep down and he was trying to ignore, knew that he had missed his chance with Ginny.
Harry was at least going to try for her, but he wouldn't blame her if after years of her mindless crushes on him going ignored, she rebuffed him when he decided to reciprocate the feelings…he wouldn't blame her in the slightest.
Opening the door to his dorm, he noticed something unusual. Neville was scavenging through Harry's trunk. Mercifully, Neville had not noticed Harry's intrusion.
Pulling the door back against the frame so that only a sliver of space revealed what was occurring in the room, Harry retreated into the shadows to spy on Neville unseen.
So Harry was watching when Neville carefully held his wand against a very special scrap of parchment and quietly whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." And looking at the expression in Neville's eyes as Neville held his lit wand, Harry realized with a sinking stomach that the pledge Harry mindlessly took so often to activate the map was being repeated by Neville…and Neville meant every word.
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In Draco's room the next day, his face had just turned a rather violent shade of plum. "Tell me, Ginevra…exactly when did you discover you are mentally retarded, because only someone completely dysfunctional would have accepted a date with Potter in the midst of servitude to me!"
"Well, I'm sorry, Draco, but you never really gave any inclination that you were planning on taking me to that ball, and I really wanted to go," Ginny finished simply, examining her cuticles disinterestedly and not looking in the slightest bit perturbed by his outburst.
"Even if I don't take you, you still shouldn't go with Potter. It's just common sense," Draco muttered, looking out the window of his room. Looking back quickly, Draco examined Ginny carefully. She was one of the only girls…hell, one of the only people that Malfoy had ever met that didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated by his presence. She acted like she was talking with something about as frightening as a flobberworm.
Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes in response to Draco's comment. She had simply accepted the fact by now that she wouldn't ever be able to completely do the right thing where Draco was concerned. "So what do you want me to do? It's not like you're planning on taking me to the ball. The mistake has already been made, so I might as well go with Harry. You're probably planning on going with Pansy anyway."
"I actually wasn't, for your information, but if I needed a date, I suppose she would suffice," he finished in a bored drawl, meeting her chocolate eyes with a challenging glare from his steel ones.
Ginny looked at him with disgust. "Why do you continue leading her on? Shouldn't you be a man and tell her that you don't actually like her in the slightest? Why don't you give her some damn closure?"
Draco raised an eyebrow in response. "First off, stop talking out of turn. It's rude, and you're not even saying Master Malfoy or Master Draco prior to your insipid comments…so you're making them just that much more unbearable. And second, Pansy is simply around for the days that I can't find anyone better…and I think she has accepted that by now. She knows I'll only call her when I'm truly nauseatingly desperate."
What a pigheaded ass! Ginny thought angrily to herself while standing up from the chair. Turning back to look once at Draco before putting her hand on the doorknob, she said simply, "When you treat Pansy like a human being, I'll tell Harry I'm going with you to the ball instead."
Draco just looked at her in confusion. Why the hell does she care so much about the way I treat Pansy, anyways? Pansy doesn't give a damn about her! I've never met someone before that had so much affection and caring to give that they cared about people who don't reciprocate…it's sickening.
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Draco's inability to understand Ginny's sudden compassion towards Pansy continued well through his classes the next day, and was still rolling around in his brain when he walked right into the object of his thoughts after Transfiguration.
"Oof!" Ginevra grunted as Draco walked right into her, completely unaware.
"Watch where you're going!" Ginevra said snappily, before looking up into his face. "Oh. It's you."
Draco raised an eyebrow. "What a welcome. Next time I want to feel loved, I'll certainly seek you out for a nice 'Oh, hello… you sodding bastard,' or perhaps a 'If you were the last man on earth and the last woman was ironically straight, I still wouldn't speak to you.'"
Ginny giggled despite herself. "Okay. Sorry. But if you haven't talked to Pansy, then you know that I'm still going to the ball with Harry."
Draco's eyes glinted happily upon seeing her smile. He didn't know why he enjoyed making her laugh, but some small part of him felt accepted on those rare occasions that he made her smile…but the much greater part of him felt rather sick at his uncharacteristic catering to her affections.
Draco's smile turned to a frown. "Why do you care about her, Red? She's never even been nice to you."
Ginny thought deeply for a moment. "I guess it's the feminist in me, Draco. No woman deserves to be treated like she is…even her."
Draco's grey eyes went even more steel than usual as he curtly replied, "All I heard in that statement was blah feminist bullshit blah. I expect you back in the dungeons tonight. Seven."
Ginny's eyes widened as she watched him swagger confidently back down the corridor. Just when I thought he was becoming a bit more human, he turns back into an ass! I have no idea what personality he'll have from one day to the next…he's completely bloody unpredictable!
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Though Ginny thought that her difficult day was over, she had one more challenge in store. After her run-in with Draco, she was approached by Neville back in the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Hey, Ginny," Neville said casually, approaching her usual squashy armchair.
"Oh, hi Neville," Ginny replied rather disinterestedly, opting to stare into the fireplace rather than to meet Neville's earnest gaze. She only had about an hour until she was supposed to meet Draco in the dungeons, and it was all she could think about.
"Um, I was just wondering if you had a date for the next Hogsmeade weekend," he said softly.
"No I don't…when is that, anyway? I hadn't heard about it 'til now."
"Well…technically, it's not until the week before Halloween."
"What do you mean, technically? It is or it isn't," Ginny said simply, looking up into Neville's eyes.
"I was planning on making Hogsmeade come a little…earlier," Neville seemed to be urging Ginny on with his eyes, hoping she would get the hint.
"Oh. One-eyed witch, then?" she asked quickly.
"Pretty much. Are you up for it? What are you doing next weekend?" Neville asked with a smile.
"Sounds fun…sure. Yeah, I'm free next weekend…how's Saturday?" she asked, returning his smile.
"Great. I'll see you then," Neville said softly, and turned to climb the stairs.
With each stair he ascended, his devilish grin seemed to get wider. Everything is going according to plan…
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Author's Note- Sorry to have left you on a bit of a cliffie…I'm going to make a sincere effort to update more frequently, though! Hope you review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!
Thanks especially to Miss Auburn on ff.net for suggesting the notes at the end of the chapter (among some other really awesome constructive comments), you're absolutely right- I didn't realize I was giving away so much of the chapter by having them at the beginning!
To Ginny-and-Draco-fan and social-flutterby (both on ff.net), I'm sorry Neville is the most confusing thing ever…but his character will hopefully make more sense to everyone as time goes on. To magnoliaTC (on portkey.org), you're right that Draco figured it out really quickly that Ginny was a virgin…but I can't picture Ginny being that great a liar, and I figure that Draco would have been well-acquainted with liars from his jaunts with You-Know-Who. Thank you so much to absolutely everyone who reviewed! I appreciate all of your support so much!!