Well, well, well! It looks like things are getting sticky for our heroine! And the exclamation points are back to attack and take over my little blurbs!
Dear, dear.
Thank you to my reviewers, and yes, thank you too Ella Mae. Without you I would still not be able to finish anything I wrote because there would be nobody to read it. I LOVE PORTKEY!!!!
Obligatory disclaimer, part 2: I don't own Draco. I don't own Ginny. I don't own Bath and Body Works or any lipgloss from Sephora.
But we can't have everything, now can we?
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Chapter Two: The Official Slytherin Prank Team Captain
Ginny was still seething a couple days later. She hadn't talked to Harry since he had dumped her for Hermione, and she hadn't talked to Hermione for obvious reasons. Neville was off snogging Seamus somewhere (he had come out over the summer. Everybody was really happy for him, including, surprisingly, his grandmother) and Ron was busy with Luna.
Everybody was in love except for Harry Potter's ex.
The youngest Weasley had found herself taking over Hermione's old position as the study-obsessed nerdy Gryffindor. She spent most of her meals and free time in the library, pretending to study. But her mind was teeming with schemes.
How was she going to get Hermione back without hurting Harry?
She didn't blame Harry for dumping her. She blamed Hermione for seducing him. The poor boy! The brunette had probably cornered him during one of their late-night study sessions or something. Teenage boys were totally ruled by their hormones, she knew that. Harry would have to be reaaaaally testosterone-full to snog Hermione.
Seriously. Had she ever heard of conditioner? Not to mention the fact that two of her best friends' brothers owned a shop that sold anti-frizz products that actually worked.
Ginny realized that she had been staring into space for about the last twenty minutes and quickly began to reread the chapter in her Charms book. Flitwick would kill her if she didn't turn his essay in on time. The benches at the library tables were really quite uncomfortable. She didn't know how Hermione had managed to sit there for about half her life without going insane.
Hermione…no, she wasn't thinking about that bitch.
Just as Ginny was drifting off into a daydream in which she was beating Hermione into a pulp and Harry kissed her (multiple times), she felt a hand on her shoulder. A thousand tingles shot up her arm. He had come back to her! She turned around with a huge grin on her face.
It shouldn't have come as a shock after last time. But once again, she was staring into the pale face of Draco Malfoy.
The smile slipped off her face. She turned back to her Charms work with a murderous expression as the older boy slid into the seat next to her, still smiling smugly.
"I suppose you thought that was going to be Mr. Perfect?" Draco said smugly, leaning back.
"It's none of your business if I did," retorted Ginny, straightening the papers in front of her.
"When will you take that stick out of your ass and relax, Ginevra?" He swept her papers away and she made a noise in protest. "I just want you to hear me out."
"Why the hell would I even do that, Malfoy?" She tried to pull back her essay, but Draco was stronger than he looked. "You murder the headmaster-"
"I did not murder Dumbledore," he said, bored. Draco's eyes drilled through her; it was like he was staring into her soul.
She waved her hand, dismissing him. "Semantics. But the fact remains, we hate each other. Our families have hated each other-"
The librarian appeared out of thin air, as she was apt to do. "Ssh!" Madam Pince shushed them furiously.
Ginny continued in a lower voice, "-for generations. You don't just pop up one day and say, oh, guess what, we're going to be best friends now!"
He was still staring. It made her really uncomfortable. "I'm not asking for friendship."
"Well, I'm not about to go let you screw me in some bloody hallway!" Ginny nearly screamed. The librarian shushed them again.
"You think that's what this is about?" A smile was playing about Draco's lips; Ginny wanted in equal parts to slap him and kiss him within an inch of his life.
"Isn't it?"
"Don't flatter yourself. I want a truce."
"Why the fu-"
He cut her off. "We have a lot more in common than you realize, Ginevra."
"Stop calling me Gin-a lot in common?" She was perplexed. They were total opposites.
"For a start, we both hate Harry Potter." He held up a hand to silence her when she tried to protest. "Think. Really think about it."
Ginny thought. Did she even like Harry any more, or was this some sort of twisted, revenge kick she was on? Eventually she was forced to admit that she did, in some small way, hate Harry. Draco grinned broadly when she told him this.
"Excellent. I assume you've already made progress with a revenge plan?"
"Are you kidding? That's all I think about. It's rather disgusting."
He smirked, and for once she didn't feel like punching him when the expression crossed his face. "I knew Ginny Weasley hadn't gone dork."
For the first time that night, Ginny looked around the library. "Speaking of dorks, where are the real ones? I thought it would be crowded." It usually was on Fridays after dinner.
Another smirk flitted across Draco's face. "A few words from the Head Boy and the place cleared up pretty quick."
"Jesus, I totally forgot that you were Head Boy," Ginny said, smacking herself on the forehead.
"Well, you have been lost in Harry-land ever since the start of school," Draco pointed out.
"And she's the Head Girl," Ginny ground out, ignoring his comment about her obsession with her former boyfriend.
"Yes, I have to spend more time than usual with Granger," the Slytherin said with a sigh. "It's tragic, really."
"Not for us," Ginny said with an evil laugh.
"Yes, we should plan our revenge," he replied. His laugh echoed hers eerily.
She suddenly peered at him oddly. "Why do you want revenge on Harry so badly? It's not like he dumped you," she pointed out.
"Are you kidding? I've disliked that git from the first time I saw him," argued the blond boy.
"True."
"So, let's get planning."
"I don't really have a plan. And I'm guessing you don't either."
"You are looking," said Draco, flourishing his hands ridiculously, "at the Captain of the Slytherin Prank Team."
"The what?"
"The Slytherin Prank Team. You know us. You just don't know that you know us."
"Uh-what?"
Draco sighed dramatically. "Remember the snake in Hagrid's shoe?"
The prank had occurred that fall. Even in Ginny's obsession with Harry, she had heard about the legendary trick. Some daring seventh year had snuck a snake in Hagrid's shoe when he took them off to massage his feet after he had taken the N.E.W.T. class for a foray into the forest. Apparently he had jumped so high that the trees shifted a bit.
"That was you?" She gasped. That one had been famous. Nearly Fred-and-George-worthy.
"Me and my team, that is," corrected Draco.
"Wow."
"I know."
"So do you have a plan?"
"No, that's why I needed you."
She rolled her eyes. "Just because he dumped me, you think that I've been plotting his downfall?"
He sighed. "How long has it been?"
Ginny gritted her teeth and looked down at the essay that was lying abandoned on the table. "Two weeks and three days."
"Exactly," he said, leaning back again, "I would have thought that you would have at least one or two backups by now. I gave you a long time."
"You've been planning this since he dumped me?"
"Could a more perfect opportunity turn up?" Draco smirked at her. Perfect opportunity was right… She didn't even know the half of it.
She smirked back, not knowing what was going on inside his head. "I don't know. I'm sure you would have found one."
He laughed. "I probably would have," Draco admitted. "The question is-would you?"
Ginny turned serious suddenly. "I don't think so," she said finally. "I was-I still am-in love with him."
Draco sighed inwardly. Tough case. "If you're still in love with him, we can't do the prank," he explained patiently, as if to a two-year-old.
"Well, how do you propose to fix that?" she said stonily.
Then Ginny realized that he was close to her. Really, really close. She hadn't noticed before how hot he looked in his green tie…Slytherin colors really suited him.
"I suppose we could think of something," he said, eyes lidded. By then both of them had forgotten what the question was.
Their lips had barely brushed each other when-
"SHIT!" Ginny jumped backward and nearly knocked over the bench they had been sitting on. Draco leapt up when she did, looking confused.
"Crap, crap, crap! Freaking crap!" She grabbed fistfuls of her hair, pulling it. The pain in her scalp brought her back from whatever place she had been in. Her? Malfoy? That was wrong. Sick and wrong.
"Calm down, Ginny," soothed Draco. "What's wrong?"
"You…this…everything," she panted, still hopping around like a maniac.
"I just wanted to distract you from Potter and his little `study buddy,'" Draco said, putting the table between them. You could never tell when a sixteen-year-old girl could suddenly flip out and hex you.
"Well it worked," Ginny said sourly, sitting down and sweeping up her scattered and abandoned papers from the tabletop. "I can consider myself distracted."
"Good," he said, running his hands through his hair and chuckling. The gesture so reminded her of Harry that she got a little choked up.
"I'm just so pissed off that you would even consider…" She shuddered and did not complete the sentence. The possibilities were too horrible to contemplate. Not to mention that nightmare she had had two and a half weeks ago.
"Pissed off is a start," he said agreeably, sitting himself beside her. Draco caught her chin and forced her to look at him. "But you can't stay mad at me forever."
"And why is that?" she snarled, trying to keep from thinking about how sexy he was in his winter sweater.
"We have a revenge plot to attend to, of course," he stated as though it were obvious.
"At least I'll be distracted," she pointed out.
"We have a truce," he reminded her.
"That doesn't give you the right to…" She couldn't even say what she was thinking. Kiss me.
Apparently Draco could. "I know, I know, I shouldn't kiss you."
She blushed, horrified to feel her heart going all mushy and girly inside of her even at the mention of
kissing him. "Exactly," she mumbled, putting away the unfinished
Charms essay and her already-completed Potions homework.
"But can I call you Ginny?"
Pausing at this unexpectedly gentlemanly question, she turned to consider him. "I suppose if we have a truce, we can be on a first-name basis," Ginny said grudgingly.
Draco beamed at her, and her heart went all mushy again. She didn't even have the energy to be pissed off at herself again. "And on that note, we end the first ever Gryffindor-Slytherin prank committee," he said, helping her put her homework away.
"Wow, we got a lot accomplished," she laughed. "First names, and the fact that I secretly hate Harry. Definitely a lot."
"It's a lot more than you think," he said quietly, looking at her. It was one of those intense, stares that Ginny pretended to hate but secretly inside sort of liked.
Then the moment was broken. Ginny looked around. "Where's Madam Pince?"
"Probably off macking with Filch," Draco grumbled. "Everybody's in love."
"I know!" said Ginny. "It's a little scary."
"And I thought only teenagers were horny," he agreed as they passed a writhing shape in the restricted section that could only be the librarian and the caretaker.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stepping through the portrait hole, Ginny froze when she saw a certain couple glued together in the cushiest armchair.
As the retreating figure of the redhead sprinted up the stairs, Harry broke the kiss. "What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione said, concerned. She touched his face affectionately.
"Poor Ginny," he murmured.
His girlfriend sighed and sat back on her haunches. "I know," Hermione said, her eyes sparkling a bit with her tears. "Maybe we should have found another way to break it to her."
Harry bit his lip. The whole business was just so messy. Girls, he concluded, were a species unto themselves. "She had to know eventually. It had to happen."
She rested her head against his chest. "I know. I just still feel guilty."
He stroked her hair, not knowing what else to do. He pitied his ex-girlfriend immensely. How painful it must be for her! Harry and Hermione were the new PDA couple of the year, which didn't make matters any better. It was just that they couldn't help it…
In reality, that wasn't why Ginny was fleeing. The truth was much more frightening (for her at least).
The sixteen-year-old girl flung herself onto her bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She ignored the inquisitive stares and concerned questions of her dormmates. She couldn't face any of them.
The fact was, she didn't care that Harry and Hermione were down there snogging and God knows what else. Ginny was horrified to find that she was happy for them. As long as they were happy and in love, she could care less.
No, what scared her was that she no longer wanted revenge on Harry.
She wanted another boy.
But the only way to see him in the first place was to get revenge on Harry…
Ginny sighed. She just wanted to sleep and forget everything else. Even though it was early, she pulled on her pajamas quickly and thought of the ocean until she drifted off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco trudged into the Slytherin common room, weary and headache-y. Pansy, who had been waiting for him by the green-tinged fire, stood up when he walked into the room. The Slytherin girl waggled her eyebrows. "How did things go with you-know-who?"
Draco stared at her, a little shocked. "What?"
Pansy rolled her eyes at his boy-stupidity. "Not that You-Know-Who. I meant-" she lowered her voice so that the studying first-years couldn't hear them "-Little Miss Gryffindor."
"Oh. Her. Yeah." Draco stretched. "Practically shagged on the first date," he said sarcastically.
"That bad, huh?" Pansy said sympathetically.
"I turned on the whole charming-bad-boy thing…I nearly had her…"
"You know, there are other fish in the sea. Other Slytherin fish. Maybe you shouldn't try to seduce a Gryffindor. Much less Harry Potter's ex."
Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm not trying to seduce her."
Pansy laughed derisively. "Of course. You were-what was it?-trying to get her to fall in love with you. Or some such noble crap."
The boy scowled. Pansy could push his buttons like nothing else. But that was partially why he kept her around him; she didn't put him on a silver platter like the rest of his House, just because of the Mark he had on his arm…
Tearing his thoughts away to less morbid things, he put on a cheerful face. "Well, I've got her pissed off at the Boy-Who-Lived. That's a start, isn't it?"
"Takes a lot to get her to hate her ex…" Pansy agreed.
Draco yawned. He stretched and patted his friend on the back. "Well, Pans, I'm off to bed. Care to join me?"
She slapped his hand away. "You man-whore!"
He shrugged smugly. "As you wish. But you're coming with me next time I see her," he reminded her.
Pansy sighed sharply. "Do I have to?"
"You do if you value your life," he replied, only half-joking.
"You've been holding that big-bad-Death-Eater threat over my head for a year and a half," Pansy pointed out. "You still haven't acted on it."
He smirked in a characteristic Draco Malfoy way and went up to bed.
After he left, Blaise Zabini leaned over to Pansy. "Does he know that the rest of us don't care that he loves a Weasley?"
She whispered back, "It hasn't gotten through his thick skull yet. He thinks you all are ignoring him and that `Pansy is the only one who understands' or something clichéd like that." She shook her head. "It's mental, it is."
Blaise agreed. "He still doesn't get that we don't care who he loves. Do we, Theo?" he said, raising his voice to include the other boy in the conversation.
Theodore Nott nodded. "I don't think we should be defined by our parents. Even if Draco already is a Death Eater."
"I agree," said Pansy in a much-louder-than-normal voice. She blushed when Theo stared at her. "What?" she said defensively. "I do."
She yawned theatrically and punched Blaise on the arm. "I'm turning in. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. Bye, Theo."
When she had dragged her feet to the girl's dorm, Blaise turned his scarily intense dark stare on Theo, which made him flinch a little. It was uncomfortable being under Blaise's scrutiny. "Have you asked Pans to Hogsmeade yet?"
Theo blushed. He had thought that his crush was invisible to everyone. "I don't know, I'm sort of waiting for the opportune moment to present itself," he mumbled abashedly.
Blaise clapped him on the shoulder. "You have to make the opportune moment, Theo. Besides, did you see her back there? She totally loves you."
A broad grin spread across Theo's face. "You really think so?"
"I saw it. And Blaisy sees all. Blaisy sees all," said the Slytherin. Together the boys watched the green flames flicker until they grew too tired to keep their eyes open.
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Many thanks to the following:
All those brave reviewers who aren't afraid to put their opinions out there (HINT!).
iTunes for that amazing Just for You Beta feature. Otherwise I wouldn't know half as many obscure bands as I do, and they wouldn't have inspired these lovely little fanfics.
Whoever discovered the 1990's. (It's a band.) They are TOTALLY AWESOME! So my new favorite band.
People who put up with my blather about music and Draco/Ginny fanfics.
Glaceau for making Vitamin Water.
I could go on, but I won't bore you with the details. The next chapter will be posted soon. How do I know? By the time I've posted this, I've already written it. (Heh. Self-editing, you know.)
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