Erased

A/N: Yes, I'm back.

Back to annoy you more with my endless talk of Draco/Ginny (who doesn't love Tom Felton? Speaking of which, doesn't he look like Lucas What's-His-Name, aka Ryan from HSM? Just a thought) and music…

This story basically follows DH and the rest of the series (it's only SLIGHTLY AU), completely ignoring THAT EPILOGUE, but it just sort of went H/Hr and R/L. There is no H/G, apart from that “fresh-pickled toad” crap from the first couple of books and a tiny bit in the first chapter (Don't flame me! AAAACK!). So poor Ginny is left alone…or is she?

This story spans a great many years, so it may end up being either really long or really short. We'll just have to see, now won't we?

Read and review, you know the drill!

Chapter One: Dancing…

Ginny sighed and sat, watching the dancers float in swirls of tulle and silk on the dance floor. The Yule Ball had barely started, and she was already bored. Bored, bored, bored.

At least you found someone who would take you, a small, reproachful voice in her head said. Most third-years didn't even get to go. It's an honor.

Honor, my ass, said the overwhelming majority of her brain. Nothing interesting is happening.

Her face heated up as she watched Harry twirl past stiffly with Parvati. God, he was so adorable in his dark-green dress robes. Ginny knew her crush was probably hopeless, that nothing would ever come out of it, but it was almost like she couldn't help herself.

Ron plopped down beside her, slightly sweaty and out of breath. An annoyed-looking Padma hovered nearby. “Having fun, Gin?”

She scrunched her nose. “Not so much. Neville's gone mooning after Susan Bones again. Bloody Hufflepuffs.”

Padma pulled on her brother's arm. “Come on, Ron, let's dance! The Weird Sisters are on soon!”

He waved her away. “Go find someone else to dance with. I'm talking to my sister.”

“Well maybe I WILL!” Padma said in a snooty voice, and stomped off to find some boy from Beauxbatons.

“I can't stand her,” Ginny said in a low voice once Padma was gone. “Why the hell did you have to pick her?”

“I didn't pick her!” Ron said, irritated. His ears grew a bit red. “Harry made me! Plus, I think he's jealous of Krum.”

Ginny gave him a curious look. “Aren't you?”

Ron knit his eyebrows. “Well, who isn't, he's a bloody international Quidditch player.”

“I was talking about the whole…Hermione factor.” Ginny was practically whispering.

A look of comprehension dawned on her brother's face. Then he looked horrified. “You thought I'd fancied Hermione?”

Ginny looked at the heavens in a silent plea for help. “Anyone with eyes would have thought that, Ron.”

“Harry told me to watch them so it wouldn't be obvious that HE fancies Hermione! And I thought girls were supposed to be perceptive. God,” Ron said, shaking his head.

Ginny's stomach dropped. Death bells tolled in her head. He…fancies…Hermione…He…fancies…Hermione…

“I need a drink,” Ginny said. Her voice had a weird, distant, echo-y quality to it, almost as if she were speaking to herself in a tunnel.

Ron was watching Luna spin on the dance floor with a curious expression on his face. He didn't seem to have heard her.

Ginny drifted, dreamlike, over to the refreshments table. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were standing there with glasses of punch. They leered at her when she leaned over the table to pour herself a cupful.

“Want to make that punch a little more powerful?” Dean said lecherously, producing a flask of who-knows-what from his robe pocket.

“I don't even want to touch it if it's come from inside your robes,” Ginny said, disgusted. Who knows what issues were going on in there? She shuddered. She did NOT want to think about it.

A familiar, unpleasant chuckle came from somewhere over her shoulder. Oh, no. This night couldn't get any worse.

But apparently it could.

“What do you want, Malfoy?” she said in an annoyed voice. The boy in question tugged at the high collar on his dress robes, apparently uncomfortable. She very nearly sniggered; the robes made him look like a vicar.

Dean and Seamus made their escape while Ginny's back was turned. “So much for Gryffindor bravery,” the blond boy said, pointing at the space where the two boys used to be.

“And I suppose you know so much about bravery, ferret boy?” That incident was still fresh in everybody's mind. She smirked when Draco stiffened.

“More than you do, Weasel,” he snapped, tugging again at the collar.

“No really, just tell me what you want and go away. I want this to be a semi-memorable experience, not the story I tell my grandchildren about how I hid in a bathroom for three hours to escape a rodent.” She glared at him. He stared back, unmoved.

“Do you even think you have a chance with him?” Draco said, gesturing towards the dance floor.

Ginny turned around just in time to see Harry staring moodily at Krum and Hermione. She knew she didn't have much to offer. Sure, she was pretty, but in some ways she would always be the little-sister figure.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Ginny said coldly, flinging herself down in a chair and taking a sip from her punch.

He sat down next to her, a smirk curling his lips. It would be so, so easy to curse him into oblivion…

“Of course you do. You fancy Potter. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me.” Draco made a zipping motion on his lips.

“Why do you even care?” she said rudely. “I thought the lives of us Gryffindors were below the noble house of Slytherin.”

He shrugged. “Of course they are.”

“Then why did you even bother coming over here?”

“To ask you to dance.”

Ginny thought she hadn't heard him right. “What did you just say?”

“You. Me. Dance floor. It's not really that complicated of a notion,” Draco said, standing and offering his hand.

She ignored it and rose by herself. “It is when you're involved. Just go away.”

“I'm not having any fun. You're not having any fun. Both our dates have abandoned us,” he said, gesturing towards Pansy dancing with some fifth-year Slytherin boy. “It's only logical.”

“So when your lovely Slytherin date has abandoned you, you're so bored that you have to terrorize helpless Gryffindor girls? That's completely pathetic,” Ginny said coldly.

“Will you just listen to me?” Draco said, a flash of impatience lighting up his steel-colored eyes.

“No. You're not worth listening to,” she said, trying to walk past him with her nose in the air.

He caught her arm in a vice-like grip. “Ginny.”

She turned around, her face blank with shock. Had he just called her Ginny? Her ears must really be malfunctioning today.

“Is it so wrong that I want to ask a pretty girl to dance?” he said, his eyes suddenly warm with kindness.

“Yes, if the girl in question is me,” Ginny said in a weak voice. God, who knew Draco Malfoy could be charming? Even in those godforsaken robes…

“Look, can we just pretend for one night that we don't hate each other's guts? Doesn't all that loathing get to you sometimes?” He smiled. Ginny didn't think she had ever seen him smile before. If she had, she definitely would have gone with him right away.

“Sometimes,” she admitted.

“Well then, that settles it,” he declared, holding out his hand for her to shake.

She held a finger in front of his face. “Not so fast. Do you promise not to humiliate, prank, or otherwise indispose me in the event that I decide to follow you?”

He considered her for a moment. As if he would actually do that to Ginny Weasley. “Would I really do that to you?”

Ginny glared at him. “Considering your track record…”

Oh. Right. “Well. That. I promise.” They shook hands. Then he sunk into a ridiculous-looking sort of half-bow.

“May I have this dance, Lady Weasley?” he said, still looking at the floor.

“Of course, Sir Malfoy,” she said, giggling. He was funny too. Who would have thought?

They swept off together for the dance floor, holding their heads high and ignoring the gaping mouths and incredulous stares around them. There were whispers, but Ginny deliberately ignored them.

“Ron? What's wrong?” Harry said upon catching sight of his friend's face, which was purple.

“That—evil—git,” Ron squeezed out between clenched teeth.

Harry sighed, looking back towards Krum, who was slowdancing with Hermione. “I know, I just want to go over there and strangle him…”

“With that freaking pretentious collar and that stupid parted hair…what kind of man has blond hair?” Ron said furiously.

“But Krum has black hair,” Harry said, confused.

“Jesus! Do you ever stop thinking about Hermione? NO, I'm talking about that other pretentious git.” Ron's face was practically puce by now.

“How many pretentious gits do we know?” Harry asked, scanning the crowd.

Ron pointed. “Look at Draco Malfoy the Ferret Boy! He's practically molesting my sister!”

Harry looked over, but as far as he could tell, Malfoy and Ginny were just dancing. “Um, Ron, they're dancing. It's not the end of the world.”

Ron shot him a look that plainly said Shut up, you idiot. “If your sister was dancing with a freaking Malfoy, would you be a happy trooper?”

“But I don't have a sister.”

“THAT'S NOT THE POINT!” Ron practically screamed. He took several calming, cleansing yoga breaths. “That's not the point,” he repeated in a much calmer tone of voice. “The point is that my sister went with Malfoy. WILLINGLY.”

“Oh,” Harry said, finally catching on. “Why didn't you say so?”

“I'm going to go over there and sort them out,” Ron rumbled angrily. He started up from where they were sitting, only to have Harry grab his arm. He looked back, confused. “What's wrong, Harry?”

“Let Ginny make her own decisions,” Harry said seriously. “She's not eleven, she knows what she's doing. Let's only step in if things get serious.”

Ron grudgingly agreed and flung himself down to watch Hermione dance with Krum like they had all night long.

- - -

“Do you think that your brother is going to murder me yet?” Draco murmured in Ginny's ear during the slow song.

She laughed, looking over her shoulder quickly. Sure enough, Ron's face was a nice shade of magenta. “Looks likely.”

“Shall we tease him a bit more?” Draco whispered. She could hear his voice reverberating in his chest as she laid her head upon it.

“Why the hell do you think I'm over here in the first place, Malfoy?” She smirked, looking a lot like Draco in the process. He tactfully did not mention this.

The orchestra finished the song and they stopped to applaud. The ensemble walked off the stage, and the Weird Sisters' people started setting up. Draco made a face, tugging at his collar. “Freaking heirloom robes.”

Ginny laughed in relief. “When were those fashionable? 1890?”

“Nineteen-hundred,” he muttered back. “I think they were my great-great uncle's or something. They are so freaking ugly…”

“No kidding,” she teased him.

He stuck out his tongue at her; the gesture was so childish that she had to laugh. “I'll have you know that these are imported silk,” Draco said in a mock-pretentious voice.

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

The roadies scurried like insects over the stage. He shrugged, watching them. “I don't know, why should I care?”

And that, Ginny thought with a wry smile, was the biggest difference between them. Money.

A few of the band members mounted the stage, toting guitar cases and gigantic, poufy hairdos. Ginny couldn't tell what their gender was. But then again, maybe that was the point.

The first song of the Weird Sisters' set started, and rather than dance, they both just stood there. Ginny grimaced, turning back towards Draco. “I hate the Weird Sisters.”

To her relief, he sighed and wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. “I positively loathe them. They're nothing but noise and bad lyrics.”

Ginny was surprised. Pretty much no child who came from a Wizarding family actually admitted to disliking the Weird Sisters. It was like saying that you didn't like to breathe. “I know!” she exclaimed. “I mean, I've always hated them.”

“I can't stand to listen to this anymore,” he said, clapping his hands over his ears. “It's practically as bad as Celestina Warbeck.”

The redhead looked at him seriously. “Nobody is as bad as Celestina Warbeck. My mum plays `A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love' every Christmas and it's practically all I can do to stop from screaming.”

He looked horrified. “That should be illegal.”

“You're telling me,” Ginny grumbled as the jumping crowd of teenagers pushed them closer together.

Apparently Draco didn't like the large, slightly smelly crowd either. “Let's go somewhere where it's actually possible to BREATHE,” he said loudly.

“Good idea,” she practically shouted back as a chorus of shouts and clapping ended the song.

“Come on, I heard they put real fairies in the bushes outside,” Draco said once they were somewhat away from the crowd.

Ginny hesitated. It was one thing to go along with Draco Malfoy in a crowded room where there were plenty of witnesses, but outside was a whole different can of worms. If he tried to do something to her, there would be nobody to hear her scream.

“Sure, why not,” she said brazenly. Nothing could happen to her on just a walk. Nothing she couldn't handle. At least, that was what she told herself.

They passed Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang whispering on their way out of the school. Ginny privately thought that Cho was a pain in the ass who never did anything for herself, but she waved politely anyway. The older girl stared at Draco, then at Ginny, but finally managed a small, weak smile.

Ginny stifled a grin. If this was the kind of thing that hanging around with Malfoy brought about, she should have tried this long ago.

- - -

A/N, the Second Coming: So? How is it so far?

You know how much I love those wonderful presents called “reviews…”

I've been thinking about writing an H/Hr story, but I don't know. Hrm. (Unintentional pun, that Hrm was.)

Well I should be updating soon, unless I have computer issues again : P

Love yas!

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