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Something to Talk About
Mei Queen
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Authoress' Note: I did half this chapter sober months and months ago, then the other half drunk when I realized I hadn't finished it…sorry if there are lots of errors. I kinda didn't realize how strong this margarita recipe was. Heehee.
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Mood Music: "Viva Forever" -Spice Girls, and um…a bunch of Led Zeppelin and Snow Patrol.
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RECAP:
Ginny found herself fixed on Pansy's sneering expression. Stupid cow, she thought to herself. I'll give her something to bloody grin about.
Utilizing Draco's hold on her hand, Ginny pulled him close, enjoying seeing Pansy's jaw drop with shock. Ginny's face mere centimetres from Draco's, she reached up, tangling her fingers in his sleek blonde hair, gently guiding his face just a little closer to hers.
Tilting her face upwards, Ginny eagerly captured Draco Malfoy's lips with her own.
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Chapter 4: Stakeout!
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When the two teenagers broke apart, Pansy was long since gone, muttering something about "bloody Weasel blood traitors who have mysterious powers over Slytherin Princes suffering temporary insanity," or something to that effect.
Ginny's eyes met Draco's as their lips broke the kiss. She blushed to the roots of her crimson hair, and trained her eyes back on the ground. "It looks like we don't have an audience anymore."
The corner of his mouth tweaked upward slightly- watching the Weasley blush with embarrassment greatly amused him, but he didn't want to think about why that might be. "Aye, thank Merlin. That was pretty impressive of you back there, Weasel."
She wrinkled her nose at the nickname but accepted the compliment nonetheless. Turning to start the walk to Gryffindor Tower, she replied, "Thanks. You weren't so bad, either. That showed Pansy, I'm sure."
They chuckled together in a rare moment of camaraderie. Draco looked over at her while easily matching her quick pace, one of his steps to three of her little ones.
Ginny looked back nervously, uncomfortable with the intensity of Draco's gaze. "What?"
"Nothing," he snapped, quickening his pace slightly. She sprinted a little to catch up with him.
"Wait. What were you going to say?"
Draco stopped walking and reluctantly turned to face the redhead. Deliberately avoiding her eyes as he said it, he muttered, "I suppose I was going to say that…well… you can be all right sometimes."
Ginny looked back at him, bemused expression on her face. "Um…thanks?"
-
A few minutes later, the two arrived at Gryffindor Tower. Draco glanced over at Ginny and noticed she was showing some major signs of nervousness-palms sweating, eyes trained on the floor, fidgeting. Normally, he would relish the opportunity to make fun of the nerve-wracked Weasley, but even he couldn't find a way to make this situation funny. It seemed sad to Draco that a crazy lunatic could reduce such a brave and headstrong adversary to the quivering, pale girl in front of him.
"You'll be fine," he said soothingly. "This will be fine."
She nodded. "I sure as hell hope so."
Then, grinning wryly as if to say 'wish me luck,' she whispered the password to the Fat Lady, looked back at Draco and said, "If I'm not back in five minutes, send a search party. Or, better yet, send the damn Order of the Phoenix."
He snorted. "Of course, because you know I know their addresses. I talk to the one with the pink hair daily. We're going out next week."
Ginny wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You know she's your cousin, right? Your married cousin."
Chuckling, he muttered, "Weasley, if I didn't date someone because I was related to them…I'd be dating Muggles. Hell, I'm even related to you."
She looked back at him crankily. "Your dating Muggles would be a bad thing why? Less Malfoys in the wizarding world is fine by me. And I think I'll choose to ignore the fact that we're related-pureblood supremacists aren't my favourite branch on the Weasley family tree."
"Blood traitors aren't mine," Draco replied evenly, the mood still surprisingly light for such a topic. Merlin, Draco was even smiling.
"Is anyone going to actually go in? Or am I just going to hang out all day? I have portraits to visit," the Fat Lady cut in crossly, portrait still ajar, waiting for someone to enter. Then, eyeing Draco, then looking back at Ginny, she barked, "I don't like the look of that young man. He looks like an evildoer."
"He's wearing slacks and a sweater-a school sweater. Why in the name of Merlin does that look evil? I'm basically wearing that!" Ginny protested irritably, eyeing the Fat Lady with distaste. Rolling her eyes at the portrait, Ginny added under her breath, "you old hag."
"What was that, missy?" the Fat Lady demanded sharply.
Draco, meanwhile, chuckled loudly. "Come on, Weaselette. Just get this bloody over with; we have class soon. As to your accusations of my evildoing, madam, I assure you, they are quite correct. I do as much evil as I possibly can…at least without doing anything I could be thrown in Azkaban for."
Ginny snorted with amusement, took a deep breath, and entered the portrait. But as the portrait swung shut behind her, she heard the Fat Lady's response: "Small comfort that is. I'd take a fully-committed evildoer over a wishy-washy possible criminal any day. Men-no constancy, the lot of them."
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Ginny cautiously ascended the steps to her dorm, her heartbeat thumping just a little louder in her chest with every single step. Oh God. Please don't let there be more dead things…no poison…just for once, can't I open the bloody door to my dorm and have there be nothing there? Would that be so bad? Can't the stalker take a bloody day off?
Brushing away her dark thoughts, she closed her hand around the doorknob, and, taking a deep breath, turned it.
Then, as if her prayers of the moment before were answered, Ginny saw…nothing out of the ordinary. The dorm looked perfectly neat. All the beds were made, the trunks were closed, nothing was on Ginny's bed that wasn't supposed to be, the windows were closed, and the water pitcher (the last thing Ginny checked in case of poison), was empty. Huh.
Ginny, obviously slightly bewildered by this turn of events, grabbed the books she needed and quickly exited the dorm…preferably before a bloody Hungarian Horntail could swoop in and eat her alive.
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Draco was anxiously waiting when Ginny exited the portrait. "What happened? What was up there? Are you okay?"
Ginny shook her head, obviously still uncertain of what just happened. "Everything was…fine."
Draco, who was getting ready to jump into his fake-boyfriend "patting Ginny on the back in concern" routine, stopped short. "Wait…what? Everything was okay? There wasn't anything up there waiting to eat you alive? But….why? That's the first day in weeks!"
"I know," the redhead replied unsteadily, leaning against the cool stone wall to catch her breath and steady her beating heart. "It's a little crazy for me too, remember? But now I'm wondering if I just stopped off too early in the day."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," Ginny replied, remembering, "there have been other times, when this stalker thing first started happening, that Liv and Blythe would come up with me to get books in the morning, and nothing would be out of the ordinary, but then…" she said, trailing off.
Draco picked up where she left off, finally understanding. "…the stalker would have a present for you when classes were over."
Ginny nodded grimly.
He sighed, gingerly taking her hand and squeezing it. "It'll be all right, Red. If any bird could make it through this…" he murmured, allowing his voice to trail off as he caught her eyes with a teasing expression.
She grinned in reply, thankful that someone was still around that didn't treat her as though she were made of glass. Draco wasn't afraid to tease her. She was surprised to find that she genuinely liked that about him. "Thanks. You're so supportive, Mr Malfoy."
"Thanks," he replied, chuckling. "I try. Well…actually, I don't. All skills come naturally to me."
Ginny snorted. "Oh really? Even caring and compassion?"
"Yes," Malfoy countered evenly, lifting his nose high in the air. Then as they started walking to class, he grinned wryly, saying, "…but just because skills come naturally doesn't mean I choose to employ all of them, Weaselette."
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As the day went on, Ginny checked with Blythe and Olivia, but nobody had seen anything out of the ordinary in their dorm. The lack of disaster, though a welcome change for Ginny, was starting to feel sort of unnerving.
"He's got to act soon," she murmured to Luna during Herbology. Ginny was so tense, she'd already accidentally uprooted the Flowering Fauna she was supposed to be pruning. Luna looked at the now-useless Fauna with eyes slightly wider than usual.
"How do you even know it's a he?" the blonde countered, taking the dead Fauna from Ginny and throwing it in the bin. "It's probably a she, otherwise the stalker wouldn't make it up your booby-trapped staircase."
"Well, technically, that's true," the redhead replied thoughtfully. "But…"
"But what?"
"Couldn't they be bringing things in through the window?" Ginny asked, accidentally uprooting another Fauna.
Luna irritably grabbed the clippers out of Ginny's hand, and put yet another Fauna plant in the bin. "I suppose," she conceded gruffly.
Ginny, now with no clippers and nothing to do, leaned on her hands and watched Luna work for both of them for a few moments. Then, inspiration struck.
"I have an idea."
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"You want to what?" the 7th Year Slytherin demanded, looking at Ginny as if she had completely lost her mind. In Draco Malfoy's humble opinion, the redhead most definitely had.
"I want to do a stakeout," she replied stubbornly, refusing to allow Malfoy's incredulous expression to dissuade her. Crossing her arms over her chest, she asked, "Why don't you think it's a good idea?"
"For one," he said, speaking very slowly as if he were speaking to someone very dense, "it means that this stalker might actually run into you. You've been lucky that you've avoided this person in the past, that all they've done is ransack your room with a menagerie. But if you do this abysmally stupid idea, you're putting yourself directly in harm's way. I won't allow it. Even Weasleys aren't that idiotic."
She jutted out her bottom lip in defiance. "Maybe I am that idiotic, Malfoy. What are you gonna do about it?"
"Draco! My name is Draco!" he corrected in exasperation, looking nervously around the corridor to see if any students had overheard his "girlfriend's" misstep. No one had, thank Merlin.
Pushing her into a nearby deserted classroom and closing the door after them, he rounded on her irritably. "What do you want me to do here, Weasel? I can't let you do this. You could get yourself and your friends badly hurt, if not killed."
She knew that what Malfoy was saying was very logical, but she certainly was not going to admit the fact. "I'm going to do this whether you support it or not. I just felt that as my bodyguard, it was my duty to inform you about this."
He covered his eyes with his hand, groaning. "Fine, Weasley. Fine. I'll help you."
She wrinkled her nose. She hadn't expected Draco to react this way at all. "How are you planning to do that?"
"Obviously, I'm going to do the stakeout with you," he answered, still sighing. He didn't like the situation anymore than she did, but if the Weasel died, who else would play girlfriend with him in front of that insipid Parkinson?
"When?" Ginny asked, slightly uncomfortable with this new arrangement, but glad that Draco was letting her go through with her plan nonetheless.
He didn't meet her eyes when he answered. "Tonight."
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On any ordinary night, a Weasley and a Malfoy camped outside the Fat Lady might look a little off. However, tonight was a Friday, so ties were being loosened, plaits undone, books set aside for the weekend, and a carefree atmosphere filling the air. Not only was it Friday, though, but the Friday before one of the bigger Quidditch matches of the season- Hufflepuff v. Ravenclaw. Though neither Slytherin nor Gryffindor, who boasted the strongest teams currently, were competing, the match was big because it would decide which teams made it to the semi-finals for the House Cup. The excitement was tangible. Students were out in the corridor until just moments before curfew, boasting their house's capabilities or researching that last Wronsky Feint.
"It could be anyone on a night like this, Draco," Ginny groaned, watching as what seemed like the umpteenth First Year nervously sprinted for the Fat Lady, anxious to make it in before curfew.
"I know," he affirmed simply. After a few moments of silence, he looked over at the redhead to his left. "Are Blythe and Olivia in position?"
Ginny nodded mutely. Blythe was guarding the corridor itself, making sure nobody went in or out of the 6th Year Gryffindor girls' dorm. Olivia, meanwhile, was quite put out with her position- she had been made to guard the dorm itself, making sure nothing came in through the locked windows.
"Why do I have to do the dorm?" she'd whined earlier, when Ginny, Blythe and Olivia were figuring out their roles for the evening.
"You scream the loudest," Blythe answered simply. And it was definitely true. Olivia had even woken up the Gryffindor boys' dorms when the snakes were found on Ginny's bed.
Olivia sat on the floor of the dorm, pouting. "But it's creepy in here."
To appease Olivia, Ginny and Blythe lit every possible light in the room, turned on some music, and brought up some candy and old issues of Witch Weekly. "Feel better?" Ginny asked Olivia, amused with her friend's antics.
Olivia grinned. "Yup," she replied as she leaned against the bedpost and began sucking on a Sugar Quill, all while paging through the closest magazine.
"Staking out suits her," Blythe muttered, smiling wryly at Ginny.
"Hey, you never know," the redhead retorted, exiting the dorm with Blythe (to no notice of Olivia). "Maybe the stalker will come between magazines."
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Now Ginny and Draco were stuck out in the cold of the hallway, all waiting on an evildoer neither was sure was coming.
"This stakeout nonsense is boring," Draco complained, leaning his head against the wall in annoyance. What was he supposed to do? He had to stay out here as long as Ginny did, but he was bored out of his mind! He had been sitting in silence with the Weasel for something like three hours!
"We could talk," she offered quietly. The silence was getting to her, too, though she wasn't quite as vocal about it as Draco was. Hell, nobody was quite as vocal about their annoyances as Draco Malfoy.
"About what? The weather? Quidditch? What do we possibly have to talk about, Weaselette?"
"Merlin, never mind," the redhead muttered, expelling a sigh. "I was just trying to make conversation. You don't have to be such a prat about it."
He looked over at her grudgingly. She was right; he knew that.
A few minutes had passed in tense silence before he asked quietly, "So…what's your favourite Quidditch team?"
Ginny looked over at him, startled. Then, smiling slightly, she answered, "The Wasps. You?"
"Same," he replied, grinning. "I've always thought your brother was barmy for supporting the Cannons. They're a bloody lost cause if I've ever seen one, and for Merlin's sake, has anyone ever told your prat brother that orange is a completely unattractive colour on him? It makes him look like sherbet."
Ginny snorted. Draco Malfoy giving fashion advice. Honestly, what in the world was next? They both chuckled for a few moments, before silence set in again. Ginny looked down the corridor anxiously, not seeing anyone or anything. She fidgeted nervously. "Blythe or Liv would have sent someone down here by now if they'd found anything, you think?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Of course they would. They're not too daft for Hogwarts birds, I'm sure they'll figure it out."
Ginny looked at him, eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Why is it that when you try to compliment someone, you still manage to insult them and make them feel beneath you?"
Draco shrugged. "Just a gift, I suppose."
The redhead let it slide. She couldn't change Malfoy's nature, and quite frankly, she didn't want him in her life long enough to even try. They were together out of mutual necessity, nothing more…at least that's what she kept telling herself.
Finally, the silence began to get to Ginny again. "What's your favourite flavour at Fortescue's?"
Draco looked over at her, surprised that she was prolonging the conversation neither of them truly wanted to have. "Strawberry."
"Me too," Ginny murmured, eyes trailing to the ground, remembering happier times when her brothers would pick out all the actual strawberries in her ice cream, leaving none for her. It used to make her so angry. What she wouldn't give to see them again…
"What are you thinking about, Red?"
"Huh?" she asked, startled. "Oh. Just…my family."
"You miss them." It was a statement, not a question.
Ginny nodded mutely. "My brothers would never find themselves in this situation, you know? They're all strong. Charlie tames dragons, for fuck's sake! None of them would have to beg a Malfoy to help them. It just makes me feel so pathetic…"
The redhead trailed off, training her eyes on the floor in case she started crying. Draco gulped nervously. This wasn't his field. Comforting crying women did not come remotely naturally to him. For perhaps the one and only time in his life, Draco Malfoy wished he was more like the bloody Boy Who Lived.
"That's not true," he said tentatively, watching her to gauge her reaction.
She snorted. "Isn't it?"
"It's not," Draco replied, more confident now. He leaned over to run his hand in small circles on her back. "I'm sure your prat brother Ron would find himself in the exact same situation, but he'd just be out of luck. I don't fancy snogging him."
Ginny grinned despite the frustrating situation and the tears that were threatening to leak out of her chocolate eyes. "Thanks, Draco. That means a lot."
He smiled unsteadily, taking his hand back. Scanning the corridors to avoid her gaze, he said softly, "You should get up and go to bed. I'll stay out here for a couple more hours, but I don't think whoever's doing this is coming tonight. They're probably waiting for a time they'll be able to catch us unawares."
Ginny nodded and got up to leave, but stopped when a thought occurred to her. "Hey, Draco, do you think they could attack during the Quidditch game tomorrow? You know, when the tower will be empty?"
Draco indeed thought that, in fact, he'd been processing that possibility all evening. "I do. But first get some sleep, Red. We'll work this out tomorrow."
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Ginny had said the password and was getting ready to climb in the portrait hole and head to sleep when she heard footsteps coming round the bend. Not the hurried click-clack of professors, not the stealthy swish of Mrs. Norris, but something infinitely more dangerous- student shoes.
The redhead turned around immediately, getting out of the portrait to stand behind Draco, who was already on his feet, wand at the ready. He turned to face her with frustration. "I told you to go to bed, Red! Now you're a liability! Oh, for fuck's sake…"
Turning, Draco came face to face with…Romilda Vane.
Ginny's eyebrows lurched skyward. "What are you still doing out, Romilda? It's late for you, isn't it?"
She shrugged. "Library," she replied, before making for the Fat Lady.
Draco wasn't going to let her off that easy, however. Moving to block her path, he asked, "Oh really, Vane? Because, according to my calculations, the Library should have closed three hours ago- when you were supposed to be in bed."
The brunette rounded on him angrily. "Oh, really, Malfoy? And I suppose it's perfectly all right that Weasley here is up at this hour?"
If her words made him uneasy, he didn't show it. Instead, Draco smirked. "Ginny's my girlfriend. I'm prefect. She can be up if she wants."
Romilda pouted, wrinkling her nose prettily. "I don't see what you see in her, Malfoy. She's very plain- doesn't seem your style at all. However…I'm available anytime you're interested."
Ginny's eyes widened. She had never liked Romilda, especially given the fact that Romilda's stupid chocolates almost poisoned her brother, but she disliked the backstabbing brunette even more now.
"What a charming offer. The bird Potter didn't want. You know, I can't say that's much to my tastes, but thanks anyway," Draco retorted sarcastically.
Romilda snorted. "Oh, well, aren't we particular? That's a little odd coming from someone supposedly 'dating' yet another of Potter's castoffs."
Ginny's eyes narrowed. Oh, how she wanted to deck this bint. If only Draco would bloody move out of her way…
Draco stayed in front of her though, as if sensing the Weasley's fraying temper. "Yes, but he actually wanted Ginny, if only for a time. He never wanted you, and though I never thought I'd agree with the bastard, I can certainly see why."
Romilda's eyes darkened. "Bollocks! I don't believe anything you're saying, Malfoy. Actually…" she said, looking from Ginny to Draco with a devious glint in her brown eyes, "I don't believe that you two are dating."
"Why does everyone keep bloody saying that?" Ginny asked in exasperation. "Yes, we are."
Then, if for no other reason than to prove a point to that stupid hag Romilda, Ginny got on her tiptoes to kiss Draco Malfoy soundly on the mouth.
A few moments later, when Romilda had left out of sheer disgust, Ginny settled on the heels of her feet, looking thoughtfully up at Draco.
Draco looked back at her intently for a few moments before saying, "We need to make this more believable, Gin. Too many people are starting to ask questions. I can't just keep snogging you every five seconds to prove we're legitimate."
"Or…" Ginny replied, unable to believe she was actually giving Malfoy the permission to do this, she murmured, "you could."
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Authoress' Note (part 2): I am so incredibly sorry about the wait. Please review, though!