Disclaimer: JK owns them all!
A/N at end of chapter!
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He wanted to reach out and stop her, but he knew he couldn't. If he did that, if he put his hands on her… he knew he'd kiss her. And he was beginning to realise if he started with that, he didn't know where he would end. What did she think she was doing? Wetting her lips, biting her bottom lip in a seductive fashion.
"FUCK!" he shouted angrily, which at least served the purpose of reminding him where he was. Thankfully all of the books shelves served as a good soundproofing, and the lack of the tell tale noise of approaching footsteps made Draco assume he hadn't been heard. Even so, it was time to get out of this particular spot.
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Her smile gradually fell as she found herself licking her lips and delicately dragging her teeth over her bottom lip. She looked back up into his grey eyes, and watched as they intensified. He took a step toward her, and she drew breath quickly, eyes widening. He slowly leaned his face down to hers, all the while looking intensely into her eyes. She felt captured by his gaze, but soon he was so close she could feel his breath on her face. Her eyes slipped to his lips, and as they drew close, her eyes fluttered closed. She could feel her heart hammering against her chest and prayed he couldn't hear it…
"GINNY!"
The Griffindor's eyes flew open and she found herself face to face not with Draco Malfoy, but Luna Lovegood.
"Luna??" Ginny asked, suddenly finding herself in her Griffindor common room and not the library. Just a dream she thought to herself, and pushed the sudden feeling of disappointment aside as she rubbed her eyes and attempted to collect her thoughts. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"
"Harry, Ron and Hermione were just leaving as I came to meet you. They told me you weren't up yet and decided I could be trusted. I did warn them that might not be the wisest idea as I may have in fact been a doppelganger, but for some reason they seemed to believe that I was me."
Ginny couldn't help but smile as she thought to herself, I wonder why!
"I'm sorry I wasn't up to meet you Luna," she said as she hopped out of bed and began to scrabble about to find a change of clothes and head to the bathroom.
"That's OK." Luna spoke after her in an honest tone. "You seemed to be having a very intense dream, but I thought it best to wake you in case a Plagesprit was trying to force your mind out of your body."
"I - um…" Ginny stuttered as she attempted to make sense of the information the dreamy eyed blonde was giving her. Deciding she hadn't been awake long enough to process it she settled for a hesitant: "thanks…" as she dragged a hairbrush through her long red tresses.
"So," Luna's voice suddenly made Ginny jump as the Ravenclaw girl seemed to have repositioned herself just outside the bathroom. "What were you dreaming about?"
Ginny blushed and quickly splashed her face with cold water, although Luna couldn't see the heat in her cheeks. "Oh," she began, "I'm not sure. You know how it is with dreams; some of them just escape me as soon as I wake up. Especially when I'm awoken by a member of another house invading my dorm!" she added lightly, trying to deflect Luna's attention. Unsurprisingly the girl wasn't fooled and replied:
"I can tell you don't want to talk about it, but that's OK."
Ginny knew better than to argue with the girl, and just smiled at her gratefully as she left the bathroom, now freshly washed and dressed. "Come on, let's get out of here," she suggested, leading the way out of the otherwise deserted dorm, down through the red and gold adorned common room and out.
As they moseyed down through the castle, Ginny reflected on the girl beside her. Ginny had partnered with Luna in many of the classes they shared for years, but it was true to say that in the beginning this was in part because they were both outcasts. Ginny's first year had found her too preoccupied with her friend in Tom to try much with her dorm mates, and then later in the year she was too haunted and afraid. After that first year of course her dorm mates had been somewhat hesitant to approach Ginny, although the full mystery of what happened in the Chamber was only known to a few. Luna was now one of those few. She had always been rather separate from the other students of their year; considered an oddball, many people assumed their harsh words would bounce off the girl. In some ways they did, but whilst in first year Luna and Ginny's allegiance was more through convenience than friendship, over time that had changed. Ginny had occasionally seen a flash of hurt in Luna's eyes when others made spiteful comments about her. One time she had tried to coax the Ravenclaw out of her odd ways. "Why do you wear those odd earrings Luna?" she had asked in a slightly patronising tone. "My mother gave them to me," Luna replied seriously. Ginny had nodded understanding: "Aah, you want to keep her happy - you don't want to hurt her feelings." "Actually," Luna replied lightly, "I just like to have her with me in some way sometimes. She's dead you see." She stated matter-of-factly. Ginny had been taken aback and felt a wave of guilt overcome her as she recalled how she too had judged the girl by these odd accessories, when in fact they were a gift from her dead mother. "I'm so sorry," she had eventually replied, and the sincerity in her voice seemed to touch Luna, and she smiled in return.
Since then the girls had shared a bond of trust, and understanding. Not that Ginny would say she understood everything Luna said, but she did know that the dreamy girl was in fact a shrewd, sharply intelligent and intuitive girl, who was all the more wise for hiding it somewhat.
They had reached the Entrance Hall, and Ginny led the way to the lake, basking in the September sunshine as it hit her. The two girls drifted casually to a quiet spot between groups huddled by the lake side - it was a popular place to be when the sun was out. They smiled and waved to a few friends who they passed, but didn't stop. When they reached their chosen destination they both lay down on their backs, enjoying the warmth and the distant undistinguishable conversations which filled the air with a happy laughing buzz. Everyone seemed pleased to have got through the first week of the year, and it prompted Ginny to pull herself up to lean onto her elbows so that she could remain comfortable whilst surveying the students.
"How have you found it then, Luna?"
"Oh not too bad," Luna replied, understanding what Ginny meant. "Some people seem to have grown out of their bullying phase, which is always a nice surprise," she added in a light tone. "You?"
Ginny didn't answer immediately, as she scanned the happy students around them. How had she found sixth year so far?
"I don't know really," she mused aloud.
"No?" Luna prodded gently.
"I guess it hasn't been what I expected… and then again, it kind of has," Ginny pondered to herself, pulling a face at the contradiction.
"In what way?" Luna queried, still lay back in her relaxed pose.
As usual, Luna's demeanour had Ginny spilling her thoughts - some of which she hadn't even consciously acknowledged yet.
"It's just weird, you know? With Harry and Ron and Hermione. I mean for a while at the end of last year me and Harry actually had a relationship. And it was so good while it lasted." Ginny's thoughts drifted to the lazy afternoons they had spent together, when she finally felt like she had the man she had been waiting so long for. "I understand why he broke it off though," she interrupted her thoughts abruptly. "And I suppose the truth is that it wasn't quite as perfect as I fooled myself into believing. I see that now. I know he has a mission, and maybe some noble part of him just wants to keep me safe. But part of me thinks: well, if he really wanted to, he could have kept me more in the loop. There's stuff going on with him that I just have no idea about. It frustrated me before but I didn't really understand why. I guess part of me just put it down to being jealous. Jealous that he included my brother, jealous that he included another girl who isn't me… But I think it was more than that. I'm not saying I wasn't jealous," she threw a quick glance and a smile at the blonde who smiled wanly back. "But as well as that, I've realised now I don't want to share my life with someone who doesn't want to share their life with me. Being back at Hogwarts, seeing the three of them cluster together…" Ginny sighed. "It's worse even than when it was going on at home. It makes it seem more permanent now." Ginny went silent for a while, mulling over her thoughts, exploring the things she had just said aloud.
"I think I've moved on." She finally said quietly.
"Really?" Luna enquired, sitting up at last to look at Ginny closely.
Ginny smiled across at Luna. "Really." She stood up and wandered a few feet forward from her Ravenclaw friend to stand at the water's edge. "It's time to stop being blind about what I want. I used to think it was just Harry - I had a one track mind. But if I'm going to be in a relationship I want to be considered an equal, not a sidekick." Ginny's eyes caught a flash of blonde across the lake, and her eyes snapped to follow Draco Malfoy as he strode towards the Forbidden Forest.
"Never mind," Luna's voice suddenly startled Ginny, right by her ear. "Plenty more fish in the sea eh?"
Ginny turned to face Luna with a slight frown which was outweighed by the smile on her face. "You do say some odd things some times, Loony."
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A/N I know I've done an awful thing by uploading a chapter with no D/G action! Unfortunately Real Life has been rather busy but I haven't given up on this story at all, I've got ideas I just haven't got the time to write them down! Hopefully the next chapter won't take me as long as this one did and we can get back to some D/G interactions! Let me know what you thought of this chapter though, thanks :-D