Disclaimer: JK owns them all!
Here's the latest chapter, I'm afraid it's a little shorter than the last few but it's still a full chapter, and means it got updated quicker so I hope you don't mind too much!
Also one lovely reviewer asked about my other story Spoil It All (http://fanfiction.portkey.org/story/7563) which is a H/Hr… and just so you know, yes, I am working on an ending! Although I can't promise when it will be up as I'm struggling to actually get a decent conclusion and have been focusing on this one…. So enjoy!
Thanks for reading…. And reviewing (hint hint hint!) if you can't do it on Portkey please feel free to leave something here: http://fanficfeedback.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
*******
He had looked at her far too much this evening, stolen glances as she focused on the page. He knew she was listening to the story, could tell she was enjoying it. In truth he found it quite intriguing himself, and he'd been getting quite into it. He watched her expression change as the story progressed, had tried to guess what she was thinking about it. Yes, he had definitely looked at her too much. If it wasn't for that blasted thought about her looking like she'd just fallen out of a broom closet from a snogging session… but that had got him to looking at her pink lips, and once or twice he had been so distracted he'd lost his place.
It was going to cause problems, Draco could tell. He decided to try and take his mind off the red head, convinced he was simply feeling this way about her because the summer holidays had been long and filled with no teenage witches to take his fancy. In fact she was the closest he had come to physical contact with a girl in some time.
He sat in a quiet corner of the common room, with a book in his lap. Blaise had once teased him saying it was his "fishing" pose - making him available and approachable like dangling bait to any girl who was brave enough to come close. He used to watch from the corner of his eye as girls sent him furtive looks before eventually approaching him, and if they suited his wants… well, the area of the castle around the common room was filled with secret spaces, and Draco knew them all.
Tonight the girls acted no differently, and he could soon feel eyes upon him. Yet every girl he could see suddenly looked cheap, or nasty. He spotted a girl begin to approach him, and he snapped his book shut, retreating to his dormitory before she could reach him, and he would be forced to humiliate her. He felt sick at the thought of touching her, and wondered how he had ever been able to watch friendships be ripped apart in girl's battles to have the honour of bedding him, and how he used to take pleasure in discarding them when he became bored.
Draco slipped into his four poster bed, drawing the curtains closed tight around his space, and closed his eyes on it all.
*******
Thursday - so it was back to her turn for reading some crazy story about garden gnomes and how according to Muggles these were ceramic little fat men with hats. Ginny was in a bad mood, and she really didn't think miniature fishermen were going to cheer her up.
She scowled at Draco when she saw him in his usual position as she entered the library, and didn't break her fast pace to give him chance to join her, instead leaving him trailing behind her as she approached the witch in charge.
"Yes, yes, carry on," the librarian waved her on, and Ginny continued on to their work area. She seated herself and pulled Origins and Originals toward her, finding the place where they had left off as Malfoy joined her, and arranged himself next to her.
She was expecting him to make a snide remark of some sort or another, expecting him to turn the situation into an opportunity to poke fun at her and wind her up, and have a great time at her expense. Instead, he opened his book and filled his quill, and waited for her to begin. For some reason it made her scowl more, but she began to speak and tried to ignore the boy beside her.
After some time of reading, she began to notice the smirk on Malfoy's face, and she was sure she was the cause of it. Huffing she carried on reading, until eventually the small amused noises escaping from the student next to her caused her to slam the table in anger and raise her voice to demand:
"WHAT, Malfoy?" her slam caused him to jump and the quill spat ink over the page Malfoy was working on, eliciting a:
"Fucking hell, Weasley!" from the object of her irritation, as he hastily grabbed for blotting sheets and tried to repair the damage. Ginny knew Madam Pince would be more than displeased with the current state of the page but at the moment she really didn't care. How dare he wind me up so much? She fumed, whilst interrogating him aloud.
"Would you care to share what's so amusing to you Malfoy?" she practically spat at him as he carefully worked around one large ink blob caused by her outburst. He continued to ignore her, focusing on his task, until she grabbed his wrist, ceasing his attempts. "What?" she repeated angrily, and his grey eyes found her green ones.
"Geez relax, Weasley," he said, "I was laughing at you telling the story, OK?"
Ginny dropped his wrist as she looked at him unsurely. "What do you mean?"
He smirked as he looked back to the ink blots and dabbed ineffectually at them. "It's just funny. They're these stupid Mugglekid stories about fat dolls that come to life at night and tidy the garden, and you're…"
"What?" she insisted.
He looked back up at her again, and she was surprised to see light hearted humour in his eyes. "You're there telling it as if they're hungry werewolves about to pounce on innocent children!"
"What do you mean?" she asked cautiously.
"I mean how… how angry and… ferocious you sound," he started to grin, "it doesn't exactly match the storyline."
Ginny tried to fight it, but she could feel the smile threatening to spread across her face, and she couldn't stop herself from letting out a giggle - she supposed she had been telling it in a pretty pissy way.
Wait - had Malfoy just made her laugh?
"Here," she said, knocking his hands out of the way and pulling the book towards her. She pulled out her wand and held it carefully over the ink, gradually siphoning it off the page. She had to say she regretted her outburst: the paper was immaculate from his elegant script and her anger had nearly ruined it. She pushed the book back to him; feeling confused about how he had just dispelled her anger and lightened the mood. She was also confused about having touched him - twice - without him breaking her hand, or complaining of her blood traitor filth.
She continued the story, trying to keep her eyes from wandering to the Slytherin, who was turning out to be quite a puzzle to her.
*******
When the note came to dismiss them that night they both began to pack up in silence again, although it seemed somehow even more awkward tonight. Ginny could practically feel the tension in the air. It seemed odd to go from having shared a joke to just leaving without saying anything…
She picked up her things and started to walk away from Draco, who was rummaging in his bag for something. She paused, before finally saying softly:
"See you tomorrow," and rushing away before she had chance to see his shocked expression.