Title: Unexpected Tendencies
Author name: blazefury
Category: Romance/Humour
Keywords: Draco Ginny
Rating: PG for now, R for later.
Summary: Post-Hogwarts and Ginny is determined to make it out in the big bad world, as well as hoping
to shed some light into the love department. She drives her boss crazy, gets into some hilarious situations and
somewhere along the line, she falls unknowingly for the biggest prat she knows: Draco Malfoy.
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and some situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Though primary characters and most other characters are copyright J.K. Rowling, some characters are copyright the author and if you wish to use them please ask before hand.
Author's Notes: This is mostly just humour and romance! And it's me being absolutely silly. This was written pre-OoTP, but since then has been taken down for some editing and is now re-published with certain elements of OoTP and HBP slightly referenced, though without all the doom and gloom of it. So kick back and relax and don't worry about evil dark lords taking over. Thanks to LucyLupin and Violetjersey for beta
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Chp 1: Gun Slinging.
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August 2007
Ginny dear, I need you to help me get some things from Diagon Alley, if you're free of course! I have my hands full trying to feed Ethan and Jacob right now and I really need them as soon as possible!" Molly kissed her on the cheek, then shoved a piece of parchment into Ginny's slightly damp hands, not waiting for a reply before hurrying back into the kitchen to try and get more food into Bill and Fleur's two children.
Ginny frowned, thinking that she couldn't even leave the bathroom first without being accosted! She heard the twins give a shriek and gurgle in the kitchen, while their grandmother cajoled them to finish their rice cereal.
If I'm free of course! Ginny snorted, and was about to go up to her room, but before she could move even a step further, Ron popped up out of nowhere.
"Oh hey Gin, did I hear Mum say something about you and Diagon Alley? Great, could you pick up a package for me at the Daily Prophet from Leland? Thanks!" he said.
She looked at his retreating back, as she gaped at his audacious assumption. Ginny Weasley shook her head and turned around to bump into Charlie, who had just got out of the fireplace.
He fixed her with his killer smile. "Hey Gin! How have you been doing? Seen Mum, then?" Ginny managed a genuine smile and gave him a hug, before pointing towards the kitchen. Turning away, she took the stairs two at a time and went to retrieve her cloak from her room.
She was preoccupied by thoughts that had been brewing for the past couple of weeks: she needed a place of her own. To get out of her parents' home so she could be an adult and not one of the many children that arrived in and left the house situated in Ottery St. Catchpole as they pleased.
Since quitting her last job because her boss couldn't keep his wandering hands to himself, Ginny had had to move back to the Burrow. She had been having problems finding a job quickly enough to keep paying the rent on her studio apartment.
For a while, she had thought that it was good to be back. She didn't have to do the cleaning or the cooking, just a few chores here and there, and it was just temporary after all. Once she found a job, she would be able to move out soon enough. But soon enough never came. Finding a job that she actually liked proved difficult, besides the fact that she didn't know what she wanted to do. Back in Hogwarts, she had thought she wanted to work as an Auror, but once the war was over, she had decided against it and just thrown herself into whatever was available.
Initially, she had helped her twin brothers set up their second branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley. This was an overnight success, not that she was surprised. But she didn't want to work for her family, preferring to set out on her own and explore her options before she became a permanent fixture. Besides, their magenta robes and her red hair just did not go together. She didn't care if her brothers loved them; she was not going to be caught dead in them, ever.
So, in her first foray into the mature wizard world, she had been an intern at the Daily Prophet, where Ron worked as the Sports Editor. Unfortunately, she was quickly dismissed after having a huge row with Rita Skeeter. She went on to hold down a sales girl position at WhizzHard books, but that just bored her to an early slumber each day, as it was positively brainless work. She had been working as a secretary before she quit, and she'd actually enjoyed that position. She worked for a private company in one of the shop houses in Diagon Alley, which did freelance editing for books. She was about to be promoted before she quit, but it didn't matter. She was not going to work for a womaniser who thought a way into her robes was professional and reasonable after a pay rise and a new post.
She wondered what continuing to live in The Burrow would do to her sanity. There was always some errand to run, some owl to send or some chore to do, and frankly, in the beginning, it was all right, but now? Now it felt as if she, at twenty-five years old, was playing errand boy or girl or, to be politically correct, person, and she wasn't even getting paid to do it! She may be out of a job and her schedule was a little bit less pressing but still, this was getting ridiculous.Now they didn't even wait for a response!
Halfway up the stairs, on the second landing, Charlie caught up with her. "Oh wait, Gin! Mum said that you were popping down to Diagon Alley; could you pass this to Fred while you're there, then? He's been dying to get hold of it for reasons I know not and I prefer for it to stay that way!"
He grinned and threw her the box, which she caught deftly. Ginny didn't bother saying anything and started counting to ten before the famous Weasley temper was riled up. Oh sod it! That's not helping at all! Ginny grimaced and stalked off to her room on the third landing, where she pulled her cloak on savagely.
"Not leaving yet, Gin? Please hurry back with the package, ok?" Ron pleaded irritatingly, running up to his room without giving her a second glance. She wished he wasn't in the house because he gave her the most errands to run. But no, he was having one of his infamous rows with Lavender, who had kicked him out of the house until they could settle some things. And serve him right! Ginny thought.
She was steadily getting more annoyed and tetchy as she went down the stairs. A headache was beginning to spawn, creeping up from the base of her neck toward her head. Ginny was sure she was going to lose her temper any minute now, if she didn't get out and if someone, Merlin forbid, came over and -
"Hey Ginny, where you off to? Finally got a job lined up, then?"
She screamed. "That's it!" Throwing the package into a taken aback Percy, she stormed down the remaining stairs and grabbed a handful of Floo powder. She threw it into the grate, shouting her destination at the top of her lungs and vanished with a rush of flames, leaving behind a rather stunned Weasley household.
**********
"Colin! Where are you, damn it? Colin!" Ginny yelled and flopped down on the couch in front of her, cradling her head in her hands as her fingers massaged her temples. She heard a shuffling of feet and turned round to see a very sleepy Colin, looking adorable in a huge black sweater and pyjama bottoms.
"Look what the cat dragged in," he muttered, as he sank onto the couch beside her and laid his arm around her shoulders. "What the hell are you doing here at such an ungodly hour, screaming your pretty little red head for?"
"Colin, it's one in the afternoon. What part of it is ungodly?" she murmured, as she tipped her head into his lap and lay there as his fingers began to thread through her hair and massage her scalp. She always felt better when Colin did this and he always made things better, which was why he was her best friend, wasn't it?
"Ginny, I work the damned night shift at the Ministry. The whole morning and early afternoon is ungodly," he grumbled, as he bent down to kiss her temple. "Now, tell Colin what's wrong with his Ginny, eh?"
Most people thought that Colin, fresh out of Hogwarts, would get a job at the Daily Prophet as a photographer, but he wanted to work for the Ministry. The photography was more of a personal hobby. He liked photos, as he was a pretty nostalgic person and he loved having them everywhere around him.
Ginny's favourite was the one with both of them eating ice cream. There it was, winking at her from the mantle above the fireplace. What he actually did, Ginny really didn't know. He said he couldn't tell her exactly what he did, just that it paid well. It showed in his bachelor pad and the new wardrobe he sported, but he was still the same old reliable Colin.
She thought about what she had done and accomplished. She didn't even know what sort of career she wanted.
Ginny groaned and exhaled noisily. "What else? I can't stand it anymore at The Burrow! They're driving me up the very walls there, which aren't very stable, mind. I'd already thrown a wobbly before coming right over."
Ginny pulled herself up and grabbed Colin's sweater to shake him. He was well and truly awake, now. "I want a job, Colin! Scratch that, I need a job! But it's just so damn hard to find one!"
She snuggled up to him, and he pulled her close. "Can I stay here in the meantime?" she asked softly.
"Gin, of course you can! I'll help you with the job search, all right?" When he felt her nod against his shoulder, he sighed. "Ok, now take me back to bed and wake me up when you get back with all your stuff to throw around my place."
Ginny shot up and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "Are you insinuating that I am messy?"
"Insinuating? Bullshit! I know so! Now get on out of here and let me get back to - oof!"
Grinning widely, Ginny crash-landed on Colin and gave him a fierce hug. He smiled against her flaming hair and hugged her protectively. Swiftly, she pecked him on the cheek and let herself out of his apartment. When she had left, he gave a slight groan and fell back into a light slumber, waiting for her return.
**********
"Marguerite! What the hell was that for? I swear if you scream like that one more time, you're going to make me lose my hearing and burst that blonde little head of yours! Blood all over my Persian rug! That wouldn't do!"
Frowning, Draco Malfoy stood up from behind his massive oak wood table and followed his personal assistant, who was storming out after an incredible screaming fit. He had never thought someone could actually scream like that, apart from banshees. He found her at her desk, throwing things into a big brown box. All the photos and stationery that covered her table were now being flung into it, viciously.
"What are you doing, Marguerite?"
The blonde woman in question just looked at him with bloodshot eyes and laboured breathing for a while, before continuing to fling her possessions into the box.
"You're leaving?" he asked, incredulously.
"No shit, Sherlock!" she muttered, closing the box after she finally finished clearing her things. She tugged on her cloak and levitated the box as she stormed away.
"I at least want to have a reason before you storm out of here! Marguerite!" Draco raised his voice as he walked after her.
It was absurd that he should be trailing after a damned secretary, who dared to walk out on him. He had to admit that she did incredible work and was very swift and could lie through her teeth; plus the sex was great. But he was the founder of Xavier Inc, the most powerful and vicious businessman in the wizarding world and ten times richer than his parents. Chasing after a secretary? There was something seriously wrong with this picture.
"You want to know why, Mr. Malfoy? I'll tell you why! For one, you're the most arrogant prick I've ever met! At first it was tolerable and I kind of liked it. All that power and control you have was a turn on, but that image faded away. You are by far the most obnoxious, egotistical and selfish person I know. I tried very hard to just ignore all of it but I can't bloody take it anymore! Don't worry; you know I'm not a squealer, so I won't say anything." Marguerite reached the landing and stepped into the waiting lift. "Good day, Mr. Malfoy," she sniffed. Just as the door was closing, he intervened.
"That stapler is company property!"
He heard another scream and the lift doors opened. His eyes widened, as said stapler was flung at him. Thank goodness for seeker reflexes: he ducked and it hit the ornamental glass behind him, shattering it into a million pieces.
"Hey!" he yelled, straightening himself up quickly, cursing under his breath.
**********
During Ginny's first week in Colin's home, she thought she was being quite a good houseguest, especially so since she wanted to prove him wrong about how untidy she was. Indebted to him for letting her stay over, she cooked and cleaned for him while she tried to find a job. It wasn't that she was picky, but she knew when she was getting ripped off. For example, the sales girl position at Gladrags. She had to put in an exorbitant number of hours and she was getting a menial sum that wouldn't even get her a security deposit anywhere.
She had also thought that living with Colin would be just like their old Hogwarts days, but she still didn't get to see him much. He needed as much sleep as possible to be alert for his job. He usually left around nine in the evening and would come home around six or seven in the morning, sometimes even later, and he would awake, still tired, in the late afternoon. She always made him dinner, and today was no different. She puttered around the kitchen while he read the Daily Prophet, with a cup of coffee in his hands.
He looked up and around him, amused by the situation.
"Look at us, like an old married couple. We're just missing a few monsters running around, destroying the house," Colin said smiling, before he brought the coffee cup to his lips.
Ginny turned around with spatula in hand, rolling her eyes and giggling. "Don't get used to it, love! You should go and find yourself a real wife!"
He set the papers down on the counter and gave a sigh. "Pretty hard when you have odd hours like mine."
Ginny frowned at this and stopped stirring to get a bowl to put the soup in. "Are they ever going to give you normal hours?"
There was a slight pause before he answered. "Well, I'm not too sure about it, but I think after a few more months I'll be able to get normal hours," he said, with a grin. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up or anything, but from what I've been hearing around the office, that just might be in my near future. I don't know how the old body will take it though; my body clock will definitely be a bit screwed up if it changes. Won't know whether to sleep, eat or do both at the same time."
She gave a chuckle and left the kitchen to place the food on the dining table, making sure everything was spotless: Harry and Hermione were joining them for dinner.
Colin followed her, paper still in hand. "Hey, Gin! Xavier Inc. seems to want a personal assistant for the head honcho. You could do that, organise the meetings, and nag at him to keep his appointments and all that."
Ginny wrinkled her nose at that and gave an unladylike snort. "Mothering the boss doesn't seem appealing, really, but it is Xavier's. I hear they pay pretty well."
"Oh believe me, they do! He pays his employees very well and there are good benefits too," he rattled on, as he continued to read the advertisement in the paper.
Ginny looked back at him, from cupboard she was grabbing the wine glasses from, "How do you know?"
Colin gave her one of his most adorable smiles. "I used to date one of their employees, really sweet and everything but it didn't work out. I didn't think it was worth boring you with," he shrugged. Ginny was about to say something when the familiar sounds of rushing flames caught her ears.
"Hello, Gin! Colin?" Hermione's voice rang out. Ginny and Colin greeted them, saying that they were right on time, and thanking Harry for the bottle of wine he had brought.
Harry and Hermione, after several years of deluding themselves that they were just friends, had finally given in and had a whirlwind affair. It was promptly splashed all over the Daily Prophet and the wizarding public loved it. Harry and Hermione had grown quite accustomed to the media though, especially after the Trio had defeated the Dark Lord, when articles about them were almost a staple. Harry was even voted the most eligible bachelor in the polls for a few years running, but he was taken off the market by a certain love of his life last year, by becoming engaged to Hermione.
Both of them decided that fighting against the incessant interest in their now mundane lives was absolutely futile. Instead, they opted for a publicist to handle the bulk of the media requests that came in, while ignoring the gossip, usually about illicit affairs, that tended to manifest itself frequently. There was even one that involved Ginny, for a while. One morning, splattered on the cover of Witch Weekly was a photo of Ginny and Harry holding hands. Apparently, Harry was cheating on Hermione, with Ginny, as they crossed the road in Muggle London.
She had received owl after owl with letters filled with Bubotuber Pus and the Howlers! They left ashes and burnt her furniture, when she hadn't opened the ones from the more rabid members of the Harry Potter fan club. Hermione still got them from time to time, when some new journalist concocted another scandal about her against Harry.
Ginny was glad that she had finally managed to get over Harry and his knight-in-shining-armour image, after her fourth year at Hogwarts, and shrugged it off as an infatuation. When she thought about it, she despised the awkward young girl that she was at that age. She realised that she was just in love with, or at least liked the image of, the dashing hero that he played and she wanted it to be like a fairy tale, where she would be his damsel in distress.
"I was talking to your Mum earlier today, Gin, and she's utterly convinced that you and Colin are living in sin," Hermione smirked, with wine glass in hand.
"Hear that, Colin? I'm having your love child!" Ginny grinned at this. "Tell her I'm having twins and they'll take after their uncles Gred and Forge!"
Harry and Hermione laughed, as they turned their attention to Colin, who had just walked in, still in the process of washing up after their dinner. "Hey! If anything, you're having girls, Charlotte and Billie!" He stuck out his tongue at Ginny and grabbed the coffee cup she had finished drinking from, to wash it up.
"Anyway, I finally spotted a job - well, Colin did - and I think I'll be heading down to Xavier's Inc. for an interview for a position as a personal assistant. I just have to owl in my resume first and get an appointment," Ginny said, with a tiny smile, as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"You do know that it's run by the nefarious Malfoy?" Harry asked carefully, pouring himself another glass of wine.
"Yeah, I know the pretty little bastard runs it and makes so much money for someone his age that it should be made illegal, but that's the good thing. Apparently he pays his employees superbly and there are benefits. What more can I ask for? Putting up with his silly nonsense will be worth it when I get my own place."
Ginny had described Draco as pretty, because he was one of the top five in the polls for most eligible bachelor, both before he got married and immediately after his divorce. You couldn't deny that the prat was good looking. She had wondered a few times though, whenever she had come across an article about him, when her feelings of contempt for him had turned into indifference.
Ginny knew that he had perhaps had a change in his values, but personality just didn't change unless you wanted it to. Then again, she hadn't been in close enough proximity to actually care about it before now. Biting her lip, she wondered if she was doing the right thing, by even thinking about taking a job working for him.
"Besides, it's not as if he's evil or anything. He just had some serious growing up to do. From what I hear, he's improved since he left school, but not much," Colin said, as he sat down with his own glass of wine, jolting Ginny from her thoughts.
"Really, that boy will never grow up. They say he's also a tad bitter with his father at St. Mungo's and all, but who knew that he'd be the one getting Muggle technology to go together with wizardry? Draco Malfoy, who in the beginning washed his hands of all Muggles; the sheer irony of it all," Hermione laughed, with a shake of her head.
Harry smiled in her direction. "Quite a surprise. We all assumed he was going to run off and be official boot polisher and minstrel to the Dark Lord - well, as good as anyway - and now look at him. He was even quite decent when I bumped into him in Terrazzo the other day."
Terrazzo Alley looked nothing like the bustling and ever busy Diagon Alley, which was always a riot of colour and filled to the brim with witches and wizards. Terrazzo Alley had fewer people and boasted of exclusivity, as it was more for the upper crust: the prices ranged from expensive to borderline insanity.
"Ron is definitely not going to like this, you know," Harry continued, a small smile playing on his lips.
Ginny made a face, making up her mind that very instant. "Well His Royal Highness can lump it, because I'm going for it! Anyway, I don't know if I'm even getting the job, I'm only going for an interview!"
"Ah, but we know you'll be a shoo-in," Colin smiled, with a swift gulp to finish of the remnants of his wine; he looked at his watch and gave a groan. "Blast! Got to head off to work! See ya, Harry! Hermione! Night, Gin, I'll see you when I get back!" With that, he walked over to his room to retrieve his cloak; when he came out, Ginny was waiting by the fireplace with a smile.
"Night, Colin!" she pecked him on the cheek and he kissed her forehead, before vanishing into the fire.
When she turned back to see Harry and Hermione, they were lounging on the couch, smirking. Ginny raised her eyebrows in a question.
"Tell me again why you're not dating him?" Hermione asked.
"We've been through this! We tried it, it didn't do us any good and it was just better with us as best friends! Really! He's like a brother!" When Ginny said that, she gave a grimace: she already had a house full of nutty brothers, did she really need to invite more into the fold?
"Keep telling yourself that, Gin!" Harry laughed, with a roll of his eyes.
"Well, you just look an awful lot like Harry and I did, in the beginning. Besides that, you look great together!" Hermione pointed out.
"Looking good together and being good together is a totally different thing altogether, Hermione, and you know it. You and Harry are different; you were meant to be with each other as husband and wife. Colin and I, we're just meant to be with each other as best friends," Ginny said, with a kind smile.
Harry gave a shrug. "Whatever you say, Gin, whatever you say."
They continued talking for a while, laughing now and then, as they reminisced over their school days before Harry and Hermione decided to get home early. Hermione said she had some work to clear, but Ginny knew that, besides the pressing work she was talking about, they were just desperate to get home and have some alone time.
She wasn't exactly blind, and was trying to be polite by not kicking them out. They hadn't been able to keep their hands off each other during the last hour. They had been together for, what? Eight years now? And they still acted like over-eager teenagers whose hormones were working overtime.
That was another thing about Ginny. She seemed to have struck out in the cupid department. She had had a few relationships over the years, but her boyfriends only wanted the sex and nothing else, which didn't constitute the fulfilling relationship she was looking for. The only relationship that had been different was with Colin. They too, thought it would work out, close as they were. However, they kept seeing each other in a sibling sort of way, and that always booted any intimacy out the window. So, it was either one without the other and Ginny was not willing to compromise.
She shook her head and stretched languidly, thinking about editing her resume before sending it off to Xavier Inc. After washing up the wine glasses, she decided to head off to bed and get a good night's rest. She could do the editing tomorrow. She changed out of her robes into one of Colin's oversized jumpers, and plunged under the covers; relaxing for a moment, listening to the sounds of the apartment as it settled and felt infinitely calm. Not feeling entirely sleepy yet, she grabbed the book on her bedside table and read as the Wizard Wireless Network softly warbled in the background.
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