Unofficial Portkey Archive

A.N. Sorry for the long gap between chapters. Thanks for all your reviews of chapter 1.

Enjoy.

In the weeks following the incident in the greenhouse, Ginny found herself compelled to watch Draco wherever he went. She would catch herself staring at him at mealtimes, he usually sat alone but on the rare occasion when he spoke to someone she found herself straining desperately to read his lips. She would watch from the library window as he walked by on his way to the greenhouses at the same time every Saturday morning. She wasn't sure what she was watching for, but she was fairly sure she was watching him for signs of emotion. He was so cool and impassive, even when he was being tormented by his former friends. It was such a stark contrast to the way he had sobbed in her arms.

She was gazing over at him as usual early one breakfast time on her way to her usual place at Gryffindor table, when she walked smack into a group of Slytherin girls standing in her path. She managed to knock Pansy Parkinson to the floor where she lay sprawled in amongst the contents of Ginny's book bag, red faced and looking decidedly violent.

"You had better start running Weasley, because so help me when I get up I'm gonna blast your arse into next week."

Ginny stood gaping and stuttering stupidly, grasping hopelessly for a defence. Pansy scrambled to her feet as the other girls rounded on Ginny, grabbing fist full of her robes. Pansy Parkinson seemed even larger and more threatening than usual as she leered down at Ginny, reaching inside her robes for her wand. She searched through her pockets, getting redder and redder as she searched.

"Would you be looking for this Parkinson?"

Pansy spun round to face the insolent sneer that had sounded behind her. Ginny struggled against her captors hoping to get away in the confusion but it was to no avail. She looked over at Pansy again who was glaring angrily. Draco Malfoy stood boldly in front of her, tapping what seemed to be Pansy Parkinson's wand, idly against his palm. His features were formed into a defiant and decidedly amused smirk. As Pansy stepped towards him, demanding he return her wand he took his own from his pocket and raised it so it was inches away from her nose.

Pansy halted abruptly and crossed her eyes to focus on the wand and then refocus on Draco, who smiled his most dangerous smile and said,

"One move from your goons or a wrong word from you and I blast a new hole in your face. Now, let her go."

Pansy looked around frantically for a teacher who might step in and save her and when she saw none decided to attempt to appeal to Draco's Slytherin side.

"But Draco," she whined shrilly "The pathetic little Weasel knocked me over and dirtied my robes. I just want to teach her to respect her betters. Surely you can understand that." She batted her eye lashes at him for good measure.

Draco made a disgusted face and let out a bark of derisive laughter.

"Betters? Really Parkinson? You make me nauseous. Maybe if you didn't have such a gigantic arse you wouldn't keep getting in people's bloody way."

Pansy turned a deep shade of violet and her murderous glare returned. Draco seemed encouraged by this and Ginny could see he was fighting a smile as he continued.

"Get your gargoyles to let her go."

Pansy waved her hand back at the two girls who let go of Ginny's arms and robes and stepped away at Draco's demand.

Apparently satisfied that Ginny was in no more danger of being hexed, Draco lowered his wand slightly and leaned towards Pansy and hissed,

"If I hear you have been hassling her again, I will get you Pansy. You know I am a man of my word."

Pansy scoffed, taking her turn to look disgusted.

"What happened to you Draco? You used to be someone, I never thought I'd see the day that you started fraternising with the likes of a Weasley. Your father would be so ashamed of you."

Draco seemed to lose some of his cool at the mention of his father and, as if to curb this he tossed Pansy's wand over his shoulder. It sailed high in the air and landed with a clatter on the other side of the hall.

Draco lowered his wand and pushed past Pansy roughly, uttering something that sounded very much like, "Fetch Doggie."

Pansy glared over her shoulder at him, then walked away in the direction her wand had gone. Draco approached Ginny and knelt to help her collect her things. Ginny looked up at him, feeling suddenly bold herself and spoke softly.

"Thanks Draco." His name felt strange in her mouth and her heartbeat began to speed up, the blood rushing to her face. She cursed inwardly. Draco said nothing until they both straitened up, her books and quills stored back in her bag. He gave her a piercing look which made her heart flutter again.

"No Problem….Ginny…..I owed you one." His mouth twitched slightly at the corners, in what Ginny would later swear was a rather sad attempt at a smile, gave her a swift nod of his head, turned and walked away.

That night Ginny lay in bed awake, she couldn't get Draco out of her head. Rescuing her like that had been so unexpected, not to mention the fact that he had called her Ginny. And he was of course, unavoidably attractive. Every inch of him screamed refinement. His clothes, his demeanour, his general appearance seemed carefully planned to intimidate in its perfection and yet also appeared effortlessly aristocratic. He was like a flawless thoroughbred stallion.

Draco's father had groomed him to be a perfect representation of what a rich pureblood heir should be. He had been expected to associate only with the best of his own class and would have married into another family of the same type.

His father's death and his rejection of his father's wish for him to become a Death Eater had obviously thrown his future into turmoil. He certainly hadn't helped his situation by coming to the aid of a Gryffindor in a public place, It had showed a lot of integrity and this pleased her. It made it a hell of a lot easier to allow herself to harbour what she supposed must be the beginnings a crush on Draco, when he showed that he had lost some of that arrogance.

Ginny smiled to herself as she imagined what Ron would have to say to her when he got wind of what happened in the Hall that morning. So what was one more complication in life? Especially when it comes in such an inviting package.