Chapter 4 - Blood
Draco was usually the last one to arrive at the Prefect meetings and the first one to leave. So after a week of staring at his decrepitating form from across the Great Hall, Ginny decided that the only way she would ever talk to him properly was to forgo a Prefect meeting and catch him as he returned to his quarters. She knew Ron would hound her about her absence afterwards but at this point, she didn't care. She felt as though she was going insane.
After waiting nearly an hour under a jutting archway in a dim hall leading down to the dungeons, Ginny began to wonder if insanity ran in her family. The only thing that had haunted the empty corridor between the eighteenth and nineteenth hour had been the Bloody Baron. He even told her she had better things to do than sit there. Only Slytherins walked down this way, he added before disappearing through an adjacent wall. Ginny was sure he had meant it as a warning but she was also sure that that was what she wanted.
She was looking at the wristwatch she had swiped from Percy last summer when she finally heard heavy footsteps echo down the hall. Ginny quickly scrambled up as a flash of blond hair passed her. Ginny grabbed his arm and pulled him into the empty classroom behind her. Before she even had a chance to say a word to him though, the tip of his wand was against her temple.
Draco's eyes widened in surprise when he saw his attacker. He had meant to point his wand at a much taller person's chest, not at a young girl's head. He lowered his wand but narrowed his eyes. "What the hell do you want?"
"Do you have to be so nasty all the time?" Ginny shot back. Her eagerness to talk to Draco quickly dissipated as annoyance and anger took over.
"Maybe I wouldn't be so ill-tempered if you didn't drag me into dark classrooms all the time," he sneered.
"All the time? This is the first time I've done it!"
"Well, don't make a habit of it," he snapped back. He suddenly cocked his head to the side as he looked at her.
"What?" she huffed. His gaze made her nervous and self-conscious.
"Even in this bad light, I can tell you're red."
"You prat!" Reaching out, she slapped him on the arm.
"Ow! You don't have to be so defensive," Draco muttered, stepping back and rubbing his arm. "After all, you're the one who mauled me."
"Mauled you? I hardly did anything of the sort!" And before Ginny could straighten her thoughts or even think for that matter, because afterwards she would tell herself she hadn't been thinking at all, she cried, "This is mauling you."
Draco backed up as Ginny threw herself at him. He nearly overbalanced but managed to hold himself up on the edge of a desk before Ginny's mouth met his in a hungry sloppy kiss. Their teeth clanked against each another's and their tongues fought for dominance. When they finally broke apart, they both could tell by the state of disarray the other one was in that each had been thoroughly snogged.
For a moment, their heavy breathing filled the enclosed air but Draco finally managed, "What the hell was that?"
It was certainly not the response Ginny was anticipating. She felt tears prick the corner of her eyes and she pushed past him to get to the door. But just as she was about to turn the knob, she felt rough hands grab her waist and spin her around. Before she knew it, she was against the door. "What the hell?" Ginny breathed.
Draco didn't respond, he just leaned in.
This time, the kiss was much slower but somehow, just as intense. All the troubles that had been weighing him down since the summer seemed far off as he concentrated on Ginny's wet lips. He relaxed against her warm body and she accommodated him by pulling him as close as she possibly could. He thought he could stay there forever.
But several minutes of intense snogging later, Draco could feel his knees shake. He pulled back abruptly and slid down to the floor, bringing Ginny with him. He laid flat on his back, barely able to breathe.
"Draco?" she cried in a panicked voice. He was practically hyperventilating and his pupils were so dilated, his eyes looked almost black. Not knowing what else to do, Ginny gently brought his head to rest in her lap as he tried to gain his breath. It was some time later before he croaked, "I don't think I can do this."
Ginny's chest constricted. "What's wrong with you?"
But Draco only shook his head. He rolled off her lap and scrambled to a kneeling position before he was able to get on his feet. He swayed slightly, the room spinning dizzyingly around him.
"Draco?" To Ginny, it looked like he would fall at any moment.
"I'm too tired," he finally said.
"You do look exhausted," Ginny replied carefully, almost fearing that the wrong words would cause him to break.
Looking around him for a moment, Draco moved back until he was leaning against the wall. His head was throbbing again but he couldn't manage to bring his hands up to soothe his pain. He closed his eyes and almost dozed off against the wall. It was possible that he had. In any case, when he opened his eyes again, he saw a pair of concerned brown eyes peering at him.
They looked at each other in silence. Draco too tired to really focus, Ginny unable to see past his fatigue. "What have you been doing for the Order? You're just healing people, aren't you?"
"It's not that simple," he mumbled.
"Well, I supposed you can't tell me. No one tells me anything," Ginny sighed.
"You only think you want to know because you don't know," he said quietly. "You don't want to know."
Ginny's anger flared. "Don't tell me what I want and don't want!"
"You don't even know what it is you want," Draco said in an exasperated tone.
"I want you!"
Draco blinked in surprise. He supposed after the past half hour he shouldn't have been so astonished but he was nonetheless.
"You should answer when a woman speaks to you," Ginny said, emphasizing each word by stabbing a finger into his chest. Or rather, the air in front of his chest. She was still concerned, despite her anger, about his rather dismal physical condition.
"Woman? where?" he asked, pretending to look around her.
Ginny was not amused. His joke triggered her memory of the episode on the Hogwarts Express and she shouted accusingly, "Is there something going on between you and Tonks?"
"What?"
"Back in the train. She practically shoved me out the door."
"Did she really?" Draco said, arching an eyebrow. Though he knew Tonks was protective of him, he could not fathom why she felt the need to be hostile towards Ginny. From what he remembered, Ginny had merely been trying to talk to him through his massive fog of a headache.
"Yes, really! She's much too old for you anyhow," Ginny replied, visibly pouting.
Draco smirked. "She's also my cousin."
Ginny suddenly felt the need to hold her breathe. Purebloods were not above, or below, however one considered the issue, marrying within their own family to maintain their bloodlines but to Ginny, it was a rather unpalatable concept.
Draco, catching the look on her face, felt a surge of anger and disgust rush through him and was able to propel himself off the wall. "Are you implying..." He didn't finish his question.
"Well you're not deny it, are you?" Ginny could feel her cheeks burning. She was unable to comprehend how Draco Malfoy of all people could elicit such strong reactions from her. But her warring feelings of anger, frustration and embarrassment soon drowned under a wave of uneasiness as she saw him stalk towards her, his eyes hard and cold. She reached into the pocket of her robes and clumsily grasped her wand. As she pulled it out however, Draco's long fingers circled her wrist.
Ginny gulped visibly. But instead of taking the wand from her, Draco directed it to his own chest and whispered, "Legilimens."