A/N: Thanks for the wonderful reviews; I'm still disappointed that one person decides to keep up the icons and "Please Updates"…it really does slow things down on my end from posting to answering reviews. I appreciate those of you who do leave constructive reviews! Thanks! I noticed I am almost to 300 reviews! More than I could have ever hoped for for a D/G fic. THANKS!!!! J
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First Day of her Seventh Year
Ginny lay in bed her first night back at Hogwarts, trying to figure out how she was going to balance Quidditch Captain, Head Girl and NEWTs all at once. Tryouts for the Gryffindor team were in three weeks, so she didn't really have to deal with that yet. Her Head Girl duties were done for the evening, she had explained to the first years the password, where they could and couldn't go and sent them up to their dorms to fight over the best bed.
The faces of Harry and Draco sailed into her minds eye. Both of them had been sitting at the head table, one on either side of Dumbledore, both getting a round of applause after being introduced. She never managed to catch either of their eyes, for they were busy talking, eating and interacting with the other professors. She was also answering the questions of the first years, explaining her growth spurt to her 7th year friends all the while trying to explain her relationship with Draco Malfoy. Susan and Maggie were the only ones who really knew they were still an item, but she managed to get everyone else to understand it was on hold. That is what she was telling people, but Susan and Maggie went along with the story being the good friends they were.
Tomorrow, Monday would be her first potions class but the last class of the day. She had another one on Wednesday; then DADA on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday was Transfiguration and her other classes were scattered throughout the week.
Getting up early the next day, she made sure she had all her books, her wand, she put on her new robes which were the right size and pulled her hair back into a braid, satisfied that her first attempt with that worked out well. She wondered if Draco would notice her hair and was extremely nervous that after lunch, she would have to sit in his class for an hour and think nothing but teacher-ish pure thoughts of him.
Her Arithmancy class ticked by slowly as she took notes while sitting next to Tom the whole time. They were the only two Gryffindor's in the class…along with 4 Ravenclaws, 2 Slytherins and 1 Hufflepuff and they were silent as they tried to absorb all the information thrown at them.
Next on her class list was Care of Magical Creatures which she enjoyed immensely, happy that Hagrid had only brought out the Fire Crab and demonstrated how it shoots flames out of its rear end when attacked. She had no idea how she would use this in later life, unless as a Healer she would have to treat the burn but it was fun to watch.
After a long lunch with Susan and Maggie, they wished her luck as she headed down to the dungeon, Tom at her side and another Gryffindor named Julia…who was so afraid of doing something wrong and getting points away from their school she was practically in tears before they even stepped foot into the classroom.
Already, two of the four Ravenclaws that were in her Arithmancy class were settled in the back, two Hufflepuffs and three Slytherins along with the 3 Gryffindor's rounded out the NEWT level Potions class.
Ginny settled in to the back, not wanting to be too close to the front, not knowing what to expect from Draco.
She was such a bundle of nerves that when Tom touched her arm she jumped straight up out of her chair.
"Calm down," he laughed, "I was just going to tell you that I'm going to try out for Quidditch."
"You? Really?" Ginny stared at him, leaning on her Potions book. "I didn't know you could play!"
"I can; this summer I played all the time with my cousin who goes to Durmstrang and he convinced me to try out for Beater, so I might as well give it a shot."
"Well, the tryouts are in three weeks, so feel free to show up," Ginny turned as the door shut next to her and in walked Draco, holding a large glass jar with something in it.
"Who knows what this is?" he asked and Ginny stared at the jar he placed on the front table. Draco leaned back against his desk and gave them a moment.
"What IS that?" Ginny asked, squinting and Tom echoed her question.
"Good question, but I am looking for an answer," he said lightly and Ginny stared at the item in the jar, determined not to look at him.
"Can we use our books?" a Slytherin asked in the row in front of her.
"Of course," he answered and the sound of pages being turned was the only noise. Ginny thought she might have an idea of what it was, just from the story he had told her about what he had sent to Fred and George. Running her finger down the page she found it and wondered if she should raise her hand to answer…she tapped her finger while reading down through the explanation and jumped when she heard her name.
"Miss Weasley, any thoughts?"
'Holy Merlin', Ginny thought, raising her eyes and meeting his for the first time. He managed to keep his face passive and she cleared her throat.
"It looks to be the horn of an Erumpent," she said in as calm of a voice that she could manage through the pounding echoing in her head. He nodded at her, then looked down at the jar.
"That's right-can you read the description?"
Ginny skimmed down the page, " 'The Erumpets have a thick hide that repels most charms and curses, a large, sharp horn upon its nose and a long rope like tail. The horn can pierce everything from skin to metal, and contains a deadly fluid which will cause whatever is injected with it to explode.' "
"Brilliant!" said a Hufflepuff and there was a murmur of excitement through the class.
"What are we going to explode, sir?" a Ravenclaw asked, and Ginny hid a smile behind her hand at the thought of Draco being called "sir".
"YOU aren't going to explode anything. You all are going to make a Potion that if injected within the moments after piercing will neutralize the chemical, therefore no explosion," Draco unscrewed the cap of the jar and withdrew the horn, weighing it in his hands.
"Since you all are 7th year NEWT level students, I can trust that you will pass this around carefully and not fool with it," and to make his point he brought the point down in one swift movement onto a heavy, but small block that was sitting next to him. Seconds later there was a pop and the wooden block fell apart, leaving the horn wobbling on the table.
Julia started in her seat, grabbing the edge of the table.
"Merlin," Tom breathed next to Ginny and she nodded in agreement.
"I'll pass this around, the formula is on the board; it will take approximately three classes to get the potion to the final stage, requiring you to stop in and add certain ingredients over the weekend, which I suggest you don't skip, or get someone else to do for you," he handed the horn to a student in his house as Ginny began copying down the formula on the board, aware of the quiet in the class room. She felt Julia stiffen on the other side of her and she looked up, seeing the horn in front of her.
"Take it, I don't want to touch it," Julia said softly.
"It won't hurt you unless you get pierced with it," Ginny reached over and took it, surprised at how light it was. It seemed to be about a foot long with a sharp point at the end, turning it over in her hands, she wondered how excited Fred and George were to receive this from Africa. All the potential tricks that could be made with the exploding venom inside…she smiled a bit to herself and passed it carefully to Tom.
"Can you imagine this poking a Fire Crab?" Tom said and Ginny giggled, then covered her mouth as she saw Draco glance up at her then the ring on her hand, which reminded her of Professor's Snape's rule. She took off her ring and necklace, remembering the rule about jewelry in Potions class and how if an earring or ring slipped into a potion, it could ruin everything. She bent her head down to her parchment and finished writing out the formula, then double checked that she had it copied down word for word from the board.
"When you are done copying it, feel free to get the ingredients from the stock room and start," Draco reached for the horn that Tom held out to him, walked back to the front of the room and deposited it into the jar. Together Ginny, Tom and Julia stood up and walked towards the stock room, each of them taking the first three ingredients that they would be working with today and within minutes the class was bent over their cauldron's, waiting for the first sign of bubbling to appear, before adding the base to neutralize it.
As Ginny saw the first bubble appear, she added three drops of the neutralizing liquid and started stirring, slowly counting down from three minutes, until she added the dessicated Dragon Liver. Right after she did that, her liquid turned a vivid purple color and she leaned over staring at it.
"What color is yours?" Julia asked a bit nervously.
"A very bright purple," Ginny looked at it then at Julia's which was the same color. "Tom?" Ginny asked and looked at him down the table. He nodded giving her the thumbs up.
"I guess the three of you are done back there if you are talking?" Draco asked and quickly Julia nodded.
"It's a vivid purple," Ginny ran a finger down her notes, seeing what needed to be done next. Draco came up and peered into Julia's cauldron, then walked over to Ginny's who backed up a bit to let him lean down and look at it, then he made his way to Tom's and gave a small nod.
"Gryffindor has it down…anyone else?" Draco turned and walked to where a Ravenclaw had his hand up. Ginny let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding, and continued on with the next three steps, replacing and collecting the next three ingredients.
She worked quietly with the rest of the class, intent on getting it right the first time and not having to find time to come redo it. Just finding time to come in and add the rest of the ingredients was going to be hard enough. Judging by a few curses she heard she knew not everyone managed to get it to the dull orange color with a slightly sweet smell to it. After pouring some into her flask and writing her name on it, she threw herself down onto her chair and rubbed her neck. She didn't remember having neck aches last year…granted she wasn't as tall so she probably didn't have to look down as much. She cast a scourgifying charm on her cauldron and after replacing the ingredients, walked up with her flask and set it in front of Draco who was sitting at his desk. He looked up at her and their eyes met. His fingers brushed hers as he took it from her and glanced down at it.
"Looks good," he said. She gave him a small smile and tore her eyes away from his to let the person behind her hand his in too. She sat back down in her seat, five minutes to spare until the end of class…until the end of her day. The other nine students started handing in their potions, if it was the right color, and began cleaning up. Ginny stretched, hearing her shoulders pop, then let them relax, dreading the homework that was going to follow the class.
She glanced at the board, but the formula was still there and her eyes slid to Draco who was talking to the Hufflepuff. She watched him for a minute seeing him behind the desk, in his long black robes, white shirt, arms crossed she wondered how he could slip so easily into this teaching mode, emotionally removed from almost everything, to how he was when they were together. As the Hufflepuff sat back down, Draco walked out from behind his desk and with a wave of his hand he erased the formula on the board.
"Homework is finding three other USEFUL uses for dragon's liver," he said shortly watching his students scribble it down on pieces of parchment. "Dismissed." And with that, all ten students stood up and followed the Gryffindor's out the classroom door.
Fifteen minutes later, Ginny was laying, stunned on Maggie's bed with Maggie and Susan staring at her.
"Well?" Maggie prodded.
"How was it?" Susan asked and Ginny sighed.
"It was a Potions class; he's not as harsh as Snape, but I figure you probably don't have to be when you only have ten students in the class who should know what they are doing," Ginny said unbuttoning her robes and letting them fall open. She remembered her ring and quickly grabbed it out of the pocket and slipped it on her finger, also removing her necklace which Maggie saw.
"Let me see that necklace," she asked and Ginny held it out to her with one finger.
"Did Draco say anything to you?" Susan asked.
"He called on me to read something, said my Potion was fine, that was about it…what I expected really," Ginny sat up on her elbows and watched Maggie pass the necklace to Susan.
"Did he give you this?" Susan turned it over in her hands and Ginny nodded.
"For my birthday."
"It's beautiful, real gold too…not cheap, Ginny," Susan said with a know it all tone in her voice. Ginny silently held out her hand and felt the necklace return to her hand.
"I'm going to take a nap," Ginny clasped the necklace around her neck and stood up, ready to go to her own room.
"Have fun," Maggie said and Ginny walked across the hall to her room, said the password she chose and slipped in, throwing her book bag to the floor. She didn't notice the person sitting on her desk until after she hung up her robe and turned around. Letting out a shriek and reeling back against the wall, Ginny's hand flew to her chest, the other one to her wand. There was Draco, perched on her desk, still in his teaching robes.
"Don't DO that," Ginny closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, letting her wand drop to her side. "What are you doing here?"
She opened her eyes and saw him still perched on her desk.
"I just wanted to see how your first day went," he asked supportively.
"Busy, hard," Ginny answered, running a hand over her face, then shuffling over to her bed.
"How was your first day?" she asked back at him, sitting down and taking off her shoes.
"Busy…those first years are snotty…they know no fear," Draco said dryly watching her toss her shoes towards her robe, then reach up to take off her Gryffindor tie.
"Well, none of us did then…they are a large class too, unlike the ten of us," Ginny replied. "Do you like it so far?"
He nodded and hopped off her desk as she reached for the first button of her school uniform shirt.
"What are you doing?" he came over and stood next to her and she froze for a moment.
"I'm going to get into a t-shirt and shorts then take a nap," she felt his fingers touch the buttons on her shirt as he slowly unbuttoned them for her, then raised his eyes to meet hers.
"What are you doing?" Ginny whispered, feeling his hands settle on the bare skin above her skirt waist.
"Just helping you," he smiled and Ginny flushed, still trying to change gears from having him as a teacher, to having him now as her boyfriend in her room. His warm hands slid around to her back, opening the front of her shirt. Reaching out, she placed her palm against his chest, on the robes he was still wearing, then closed her eyes feeling his lips on hers, and hearing the zipper on her skirt, then finally feeling it pool at her stocking feet. Not losing the claim she had on his mouth, she managed to step out of her stockings and was left standing in a cream colored bra and knickers. She wrapped her arms around him, shivering slightly at the cool, soft feel of his robes against her skin.
After standing there for what seemed like hours, lost in his kiss and the feel of him, she pulled away, reaching for the t-shirt she had on her bed from the day before, she pulled it over her head and felt him tug it down over her, his knuckles grazing her hips.
"I'm tired, Draco. I need a nap," Ginny stifled a yawn realizing that tiredness was overriding any other emotion right now. Nodding, he pulled back the covers and she climbed in turning on her side as he sat next to her, touching her braid.
"Have a good nap," he said, touching her cheek and she smiled and closed her eyes.
"I will; I might have to dream about that new Potions professor," she said sleepily and the last thing she heard was a soft laugh and felt him brush a kiss over her cheek.
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Ginny stirred and her bed, stretching her long legs as straight as they would go, then stopped short as she felt someone next to her. Turning from her side she sat up and stared at Draco who was reclining against the headboard, his robe hanging off the bedpost and looking at her.
"You're still here," Ginny blinked at him and he nodded.
"I am."
"How long did I sleep and why are you still here?" Ginny reached around and pulled the band off the bottom of her braid, running her hand through it to separate the strands.
"About an hour," he shifted onto his side, still propped up against the headboard. "And, at the moment, I have nothing that needs to be done, so I decided to stay, keep you company."
He reached out and ran his fingers through her hair, helping her comb it out. Relaxing, she let her hands drop and loved the feel of his hands moving through her hair.
"So, you have nothing to do?"
"No, not until after dinner. Then the first years Potions should be ready for me to check up on," he moved until he was behind her and stretched out his legs on either side of her, still moving his hands through the red hair. She was quiet, enjoying the intimate moment and when his hands stilled, she leaned back against him, feeling his arms come around her protectively.
Leaning her head against his upper arm she wrapped her arms around his.
"Who would have thought that one year ago, we would be sitting here like this?"
Draco smirked, then nuzzled her hair, "Not me. Not me at all, although when you ran into me on the train it took
me a moment to realize it was you."
"When I came out of the loo? Really?"
"Really. You had shorter hair and didn't launch into a tirade about me being in your way, so it took me a second to realize it was you," he admitted.
"Well, it was me; I knew it was you right away. Hard to miss your blond hair," Ginny teased and she felt him rearrange his arms so they settled lower, across her stomach. She asked him how his other classes went and he told her about the four classes he taught today. He had Dennis Creevy in his class, Colin's younger brother who never seemed to be able to stay quiet. As he talked she rested her hands on his thighs, her fingers making small movements as she described how horribly difficult Arithmancy was and that Hermione had to have been insane to have taken that NEWT level.
Suddenly she stopped talking as she felt his hand slip under her shirt.
"Keep talking; I like hearing how your day went," he whispered in her ear and she cleared her throat.
"Maggie said Blaise got that position in the Ministry of Mag…IC," she yelped at the end feeling his hand travel up her shirt, around her breasts and back down again. She closed her eyes and continued, "So, he will be working security..," she paused and bit her lower lip as his hand slipped under her knickers.
"And?" Draco asked, whispering in her ear, his hand still. Ginny's hands gripped his thighs and she tried to remember what she was saying. But words failed her, as she felt his hand move lower, teasing her.
She grabbed his thighs and whispered his name, then twisted herself so she was on her knees between his legs, kissing him, feeling his hand still there, finger inside her. She tried to move as little as possible, holding onto the moment, hands working on his pants pulling so until he lifted up his hips so she could slide them down with his boxers.
"Stop," she pleaded, using all her willpower to say that word and he moved his hand, letting it run up the back of her, drowning out a moan of his own as she took him in her hand and squeezed.
Never letting go she moved until she was position right above him, their breathing erratic as they both knew what was coming. She brushed her own hand across her stomach, casting the contraception charm for the first time on herself. Finally removing her other hand from him she reached down and slid her knickers to the side and without pausing, pushed her self down on him fast…so fast he cried out in surprise and grabbed her hips. Stilling her hips she leaned forward and kissed his neck, feeling the pulse beat rapidly at the base of his throat. She felt his grip increase on her hips as she kissed him there. Slowly she moved up to his ear, flicking his earlobe gently with her tongue making him push up against her, causing Ginny to move ever so slightly forward and backward.
Roughly, his hands brought her face to his and he kissed her so hard; she thought she would have bruises on her lips when they were through. She felt the current change in him, when he let go of all his control and that is when she moved, her hands pinning his thighs to the bed and she moved against him, feeling him hit that spot inside her, hearing him breath faster as his hands grabbed hers, frustrated he couldn't move his hips; she was stronger than he thought and he soon realized that him not being able to move made the sensation all the more erotic…but one could only take so much.
"Ginny, for Merlin's sake let me move," he said roughly, not really sure if he liked the loss of control or not. But Ginny didn't move or answer him. She left a trail of hot wet kisses down his jaw to his other ear and he let his head fall back, causing her to lean forward a bit more and at the same time she moved her hips against his, calling upon all her control to satisfy him first. She felt his hands move up her back, to the front and back down to her hips where he managed to pull her to him causing Ginny to moan unexpectedly.
She moved her hands and grabbed his, threading her fingers through his and bringing them up to his shoulders, almost pinning him back against the pillows. She felt him push into her and this time she pressed her mouth to his, knowing neither of them cast a sliencio spell, as she felt and heard him getting closer to the edge. Finally, Ginny let herself relax and at the exact same time, they squeezed each others hands feeling each others tremors and moans against the others lips. Ginny slowly moved her mouth from his, seeing his eyes closed and she rested her forehead on his shoulder, feeling him relax his grip on her hands, she did the same, her fingers almost cramped from the effort she was squeezing his with.
Slowly Ginny climbed off of him, throwing a blanket over them; Draco turned his head to her, still back against the headboard and Ginny watched him evenly. A slow, relaxed smile met her gaze, one she so rarely saw because he rarely let ALL his defenses down, and she had rarely seen him give up all his control, she had to smile back.
"You do realize that you just fraternized with a teacher?" he asked, a bit of his old Draco-ness coming through.
"Oh, yes, I do realize that. Do you need to take house points?" Ginny kidded back to him. He pretended to think about it.
"Actually, maybe I should ADD points," he ducked as she swatted him upside the head, then caught her hand and brought it down between them.
"You survived your first day of being my student," Draco discerned.
"It was very strange; I didn't know where to look," Ginny admitted looking down as she said it, staring at their hands clasped together on the bed.
"I noticed." He shifted on the bed, "I'm not going to single you out, unless you do something to deserve it."
"I know."
"Are you ok with this?" Draco asked carefully.
"So far. I did ok with today didn't I?"
"Oh, more than ok, by far," she felt him squeeze her hand and Ginny caught the hidden meaning behind his comment as her stomach growled in unison with his.
"Dinner time," Ginny said quickly and accio'd his pants to the bed. "I'm going to take a shower."
Ginny stood up, her t-shirt barely covering her hips, and walked around to the other side of the bed, grabbing and holding Draco's robe. She watched him tuck in his shirt and she held out his robe to him. He swiftly pulled it on, then reached for her, kissing her quickly.
"Good luck in Potter's class tomorrow," he said, giving her a hug.
"Thanks. And, thanks for staying this afternoon," Ginny added seriously. Draco decided a smart comment wouldn't be appreciated here so he nodded.
"If I don't see you tomorrow, I'll see you Wednesday in class."
She walked with him to her fireplace and watched him floo back to his office. She walked back to her bathroom and took a quick shower realizing how hungry she was all of a sudden.