Disclaimer: JK owns them all!
A massive, massive thank you for all those who reviewed the last chapter! Your encouragement was so heartening and to say thank you I am uploading again… just FIVE DAYS LATER!! Unheard of I know ;) and it is even a little longer than previous chapters too! I am a little nervous about the response though so I really hope you all enjoy it, please do let me know and thank you again for reading!
*******
Tuesday. He shouldn't do this. It would be painful. It was obviously a bad idea, a ridiculous idea to entertain the notion that this would end well.
Granted before yesterday the weekend without even seeing her had been painful, even more so because of how they had left things on Friday. Granted, his existence at Hogwarts was made bearable thanks to the time he spent with her, even before they had started kissing. But this was no solution. He should stop things now, before he got into a ridiculous situation which would only end in further pain. Merlin knew Draco had suffered enough hurt.
She entered through the door like a vision from his dreams. Well, not like a vision from his dreams, she actually was a vision from his dreams. Dreams that had made a welcome change from the usual nightmares. It needs to stop, Draco reminded himself forcefully.
He didn't smile in response to hers, he turned and walked away. The librarian waved them on, and he went straight to his chair, and picked up a quill.
"Draco?" she questioned softly. He ignored her, taking a breath.
She paused for a moment looking at him, and seemed to shrug it off, seating herself opposite him. She didn't seem remotely surprised when rather than discussing the quill's properties with her he returned again to his labelling technique. He tried not to feel upset at her lack of response. She obviously wanted to end things before they got any deeper too, he rationalised with himself. It's for the best he tried to convince himself, ignoring the part inside of him that twisted at the thought, ignoring the anger and the hurt.
They worked in silence for over half an hour, Draco trying to suffocate the hurt inside him. He picked up a quill and wrote with it to see what would happen. It seemed fine. He tried a few different lines and filled in a form of questions he had constructed to see whether it was bewitched to only answer correctly, or incorrectly, or just stupidly. It only wrote what he wanted it to, and the words stayed put. It was when Draco came to put the quill down in the "fixed" pile that he realised its curse. It was stuck to his hand. He clumsily picked up his wand in his left hand and contemplated what spell could cure this - Ginny had been doing the fixing so he didn't have much of a clue.
"Need a hand, Malfoy?" he looked up at her in annoyance. She had a slight smile on her beautiful face and it didn't help his annoyance to notice how good she was looking. However he wasn't so foolish as to believe he didn't need her help at this point.
"The quill is stuck." She raised an eyebrow. "To my hand." Her smile deepened. He frowned. "Please could you help me get it unstuck?"
"Of course," she grinned, "you only needed to ask." He had expected her to look at it across the table but she rose and walked around to him. "Let me look," she instructed as she stood in front of him. For some unfathomable reason Draco was feeling somewhat intimidated by her standing over him so he rose too, and held out his hand which clutched the quill against his will.
She took his hand in her own and stroked it gently, turning it to face palm up, fingers and thumb curled inwards towards the quill. "Hmm," she said softly, and he focussed on her face as he tried to ignore the softness of her fingers. This was made even harder when, catching his eyes, she began to trace patterns lightly on his palm sending shivers of pleasure through him. "I can fix it." She said in a low voice. He waited.
"Can you then? Please?" his patience was wearing thin, he was becoming distracted by her face and her touch.
"You'll have to ask nicely." She said in that same quiet low voice, turning Draco on as she took a step closer to him.
"I thought I already did." He said harshly. She smiled.
"If you really want me to perform the counter curse you'll have to give me something in return."
"What?" he snapped, snatching his hand away but standing his ground.
"A kiss." His heart thumped loudly. She wanted him to kiss her? He thought she was trying to ignore it had ever happened… but he couldn't. Even if she hadn't been ignoring it, that's what he should be - had been - trying to do. It wouldn't end well. He'd get hurt. Thoughts warred inside him, his desire to kiss her mounting as he knew she wanted it too, fighting against the knowledge that he was setting himself up for a massive fall.
"Please Ginny," his desperation was audible in his voice but he couldn't control it now. "Please just do the counter curse."
"I will." She promised, stepping closer again. Their bodies were almost touching as she tilted her head up to him, her lips so close to his own. "As soon as you kiss me," she whispered, her lips brushing his as they moved.
It was too much. Draco's desire boiled over and he descending upon her lips in a frenzy. His right arm circled her whilst his left hand pulled her head to his, not letting her escape. She immediately and enthusiastically responded, pushing her body into his wrapping her arms behind him and grabbing his tight ass with both hands. He broke the kiss as swiftly as he had begun it.
"Can you do the counter curse now?" he whispered hoarsely. She looked up into his face, concerned, but was relieved to see the twist of a smile on his features, and a teasing look in his eyes.
"Of course," she answered happily, and a moment later he was freed. He put the quill down gratefully, only for her to reach out and take his hand. Looking at him she said simply, "I don't know what game you're playing, but don't even try to pretend you didn't want to kiss me."
"It was blackmail." He stated seriously.
"Yeah?" she questioned, and then pressed herself against him once more, taking the hand she held and resting it on her hip. "What about now?" she asked huskily, resting her other hand on his shoulder.
She was pleased when his only answer was another knee-trembling kiss.
*******
Stop being weak, he admonished himself on Wednesday, reminiscent of his father's berating. She had crossed towards him today, looking like she was going to pounce on him behind the bookshelf he lurked at and he had quickly stepped out so as to cut her off. She had grinned, obviously realising his game and had followed behind him meekly until they had reached their private area, when she had quickly grabbed his buttocks playfully. He ignored it, and once again crossed straight to his chair.
She wouldn't even let him attempt the no-talking tactic today, and he had to admit he'd rather talk to her than not. She was insightful when it came to fixing the quills, and he was impressed by how clever and quick and smart she was. When she discovered a problem she couldn't immediately solve her brow furrowed and she became impatient and frustrated, and when he offered a solution which was correct she bestowed a great smile upon him, and the frustration fled quickly. He tried to keep his smiles limited, and praised her beauty, wit, and intellect only internally. Outwardly he was cool, which she teased him for, with playful looks and heavy hints. He wanted to laugh, and kiss her, but he acted as if he barely registered her words which weren't directly linked to the quills.
They were both mulling over their work in a quiet pause, and Draco was beginning to praise himself on his restraint and how platonic he had managed to remain throughout the session. It was then that he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and looking up he saw her remove her tie. She wasn't looking at him but appeared absorbed in a passage in the tome in front of her. He lowered his eyes again to continue testing the quill he held but his eyes didn't seem to want to behave, and they strayed back to her once more. She was undoing the top buttons on her shirt. Oh God, Draco thought to himself as he helplessly watched her fingers toying with the third button down. As she loosened it and her fingers trailed to the next one, Draco could feel himself begin to stiffen. Fuck, I want her, the thought ran through his mind as he watched, entranced as she began to undo the fourth button. He tried to look away, but barely lasted a second before looking back again. She had undone the button and now slid her hand between the sides of the fabric, pulling them apart as she did. The swell of her breasts were obvious now, and as he watched her chest rise with the next breath she took Draco propelled himself to his feet and appeared next to her before she could have barely registered that he'd moved. He yanked her to her feet and pulled her into him, kissing her as if she was a drug and he had been resisting his daily fix. His fingers ran lightly up her body and she shivered with delight at his touch. When she felt his hands rest at the opening of her shirt her breath hitched, and she broke their kiss. He looked into her eyes knowingly, and she trembled as she felt his knuckles resting on her breasts through her shirt, as his fingers gathered the fabric of each side of her shirt.
"Ginevra," he said quietly, looking at her face as he carefully re-fastened the fourth button, his thumbs lightly grazing the skin on her chest as he moved up to the third button. "I'm trying to work." he admonished as he buttoned it. He kissed her lightly once more before sighing and turning away from her.
So much for platonic.
*******
Thursday he contemplated not even waiting for her where he usually did. He couldn't do it though. Some part of him felt it would be rude, another part thought it would be mean, and the largest part just wanted to see her as soon as she entered. He was playing a cruel game with his own emotions, unable to deny the part of himself that wanted her, yet unable to relax and enjoy it as all the while he was plagued with thoughts of how the situation might turn around and make his life even more miserable.
She entered in a rush and he forced himself not to put out a steadying hand to her. If he did that he feared he would grab her and slam her back into the bookshelf to pin her back whilst he assaulted her with his lips. And he couldn't do that.
"Hey," she smiled.
"Hey," he returned. Her smile widened as he didn't immediately turn on his heel and stalk off. They walked together to the librarian who merely nodded at them, and they proceeded onwards. As Draco stood back to let Ginny pass first she smiled at his manners. Only when she was seated did she wonder whether it had been an obvious tactic to ensure she didn't pounce on him from behind.
He acted much as he had done the previous day, discussing quills and ignoring her blatant attempts at flirting. Ginny wasn't stupid, she knew the games guys and girls played to get each other's attention. She also knew how desperately some girls threw themselves at guys who blatantly weren't interested. Draco, however, presented a problem. She was pretty sure he wasn't playing any of the normal games. And she was pretty sure he wanted her… when she could get him to accept it, or give in to it or whatever. Tuesday she had put on her blackmailing bitch face, yesterday it had been the teasing temptress… who knew what skills she would have to employ today. If he acknowledged it, it was worth it though. The way he looked at her, the way he made her feel, it was amazing because it felt so true. She just didn't understand why he was trying to deny it.
Her opportunity to play came once again thanks to a quill.
"Ginny." She looked up.
"Yeah?"
"I'm stuck." There was a pause as Ginny took in Draco's rigid form, his eyes cast downwards at the piece of parchment in front of him, only his lips moving.
"What?!"
"I'm stuck. Come here - read." He ground out.
She stood and walked around to stand behind him, looking over his shoulder.
"It must be the curse of the quill - I'm frozen in place and can only move my arm to write."
Ginny laughed. "Witch." He wrote.
She leaned down and crossed her arms around in front of his body. "My poor Draco," she said softly in his ear before carefully dragging her teeth across his earlobe and kissing his neck. He moaned. "Some people would call this taking advantage of you," she said as she nipped his skin again. "What do you say?"
"I say you're a witch." He wrote.
"Does that mean you want me to stop?" his hand remained still. She smiled as she pressed her breasts into his back. "I see." She muttered the counter curse and leaned her face forwards so that her cheek was next to his. "All better now?" she asked teasingly.
He tilted his face towards hers almost unconsciously, touching their cheeks together. "Thank you." He said softly. His voice made her blush. She couldn't even say why but there was something she found so sexy about him… she might be acting the part of a bold, confident woman, but really Ginny felt like a shy little girl around Draco sometimes. Having him thank her as they rested their cheeks together filled her with a sense of sheer happiness.
"I… I'm sorry if that was out of line."
Draco drew his face away from hers and turned to look at her. She blushed more furiously and looked away.
"Don't." he said after a short pause. "Don't apologise." He sighed heavily as she looked at him again, and he leaned forward to kiss her tentatively, softly, almost sadly. She kissed him carefully back, enjoying the sweet moment but feeling disappointed when he pulled back without deepening it.
"Draco?" she questioned quietly.
"Our note from Pince has come," he stated simply as he gathered his things from around her and stood before looking at her again. He paused before saying "see you tomorrow," and sweeping from her sight with no further ado.
*******
She wasn't going to do it again. When she'd heard him apologise last night she'd thought they would laugh it off as her impulse nature, have a good snog and forget about it. But he had seemed so distracted… So Ginny had come to the possible conclusion that she was actually being sexually aggressive (a term she was sure she had heard somewhere) and not allowing Draco the opportunity to admit that he didn't want her. Enough about not letting him back down and how he seemed to enjoy it at the time - he was a male teenager, he was bound to enjoy it at the time regardless of who it was. Ginny was obviously acting like a desperate harpy, and she cringed at the thought of it.
So she swept into the library and didn't even glance at him waiting. She led the way to Madam Pince and past. She set herself up without a word and began working on a back log of quills from the day before.
Draco spoke to her, but only when he needed help puzzling a quill out. Most of them he could identify the malfunction of alone, and he labelled these for her as if in respect of her silence.
"Watch out for the ones I'm labelling here," he warned her. "Read the labels first ok? This one-" he pointed, "appears to give you a runny nose so I would hate for you to be afflicted by that without warning."
"Thanks," she replied, not even smiling at his attempt at humour. She wondered if he was worried about her and that was why he was trying. She was sure their dismissal would arrive soon, and they'd shared no light banter and had survived the evening without her trying to jump him.
Sure enough they were dismissed moments later and Ginny quickly gathered her things.
"See you tomorrow," Draco said as he made to leave.
"No." Ginny stated, making the boy stop and look back at her.
"What?"
"No." At his perplexed look she continued. "It's Friday. So I won't see you till Monday. Unless…" unless you want to she wanted to add, but couldn't.
"No. Right. Yeah." Draco stumbled over his words as she felt like a small child before him. They locked eyes and for a moment Ginny hoped he might do as she wished, come over and take him in her arms and kiss her. "Have a good weekend." He said, and walked away.
Merlin she'd been such a fool. Yesterday she'd been pressing her chest against him and today he wouldn't even give her a peck goodbye. She'd been seriously wrong, and her few days of happiness and heated kisses had now made way for what would be the most awkward term at Hogwarts yet.
Well wasn't that just bloody brilliant.