We do it in the Library

Niffling

Rating: NC17
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Draco & Ginny
Book: Draco & Ginny, Books 1 - 7
Published: 27/12/2010
Last Updated: 24/02/2012
Status: in_progress

Sometimes you suddenly see people differently. You see it in schools all of the time; when people reach a certain age they begin to look at people who they have looked at in class for years, or passed in the corridors every day, and suddenly they see something more. And sometimes, people are very surprised by what they see. -- Alternate 7th year for Draco, 6th year for Ginny. The battle hasn’t happened, and Draco hasn’t been as naughty as his "real" counterpart.

Chapters

1. The Tour

2. OH NO! Not an author's note!!

3. Work Begins

4. Role Reversal

5. Gnomes and Ink Blots

6. Blushes and Lips

7. Moving on to Saturday

8. Cakes in the Library

9. Strops and Stolen Looks

10. Brownies Cause Confusion

11. Burning Desire

12. Thoughts Swirling

13. Brooding Tensions

14. Finding Relief

15. Mixed Emotions

16. Voiced Opinions

17. Five Days of Fuming

18. Troubling Times Gone By

19. Meeting with Malfoy

20. Navigating Through the Maze

1. The Tour

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

Sometimes you suddenly see people differently. You see it in schools all of the time; when people reach a certain age they begin to look at people who they have looked at in class for years, or passed in the corridors every day, and suddenly they see something more. And sometimes, just sometimes, people are very surprised by what they see.

Draco Malfoy made his way to the library, preparing himself mentally for whatever torture was awaiting him there. He had been assigned to “library duties” for the duration of the first term of his seventh year at Hogwarts. A few years ago Draco would have been horrified at the prospect of helping with this sort of work, and would have complained to his parents until they made sure he would be subjected to no such toil. These days, however, Draco had begun to learn the worth of doing a job, and doing it well. And also that his parents weren’t always right…

And besides, this gave him a solid excuse to get out of the Slytherin common room, and away from the idiots who lurked there.

As Draco entered the library and headed towards the librarian’s desk, he noticed a shock of red hair waving gently down the back of what looked to be a delectable specimen of the opposite sex in front of him. He quickly raked his eyes up and down her frame. Taller than average – though still not nearing his height – her skirt was of a length which suggested she didn’t want to be dismissed by the male population as one not to admire, whilst stopping short, or long, in this case thought Draco, of being on the slutty side. Draco’s interest piqued slightly: perhaps this year would contain more perks than he had expected after all.

“Ah, Mr Malfoy, you’ve arrived,” Madam Pince’s voice sounded from behind Draco, and he turned quickly from his appraisal of the girl in front of him, clearing his throat as he greeted the librarian.

“Madam Pince. I presume you know I’m assigned to work for you in the library this semester?”

“Indeed – yourself and Miss Weasley here,” Madam Pince indicated over Draco’s shoulder.

“Miss…” Draco began, turning slowly back to the red head. His shock registered on his face as the girl he had assessed from behind faced him, whipping her head, and hair, around to lock eyes with him. Her eyes were widened slightly in shock too, but his first instinct was one of confusion – since when had the youngest Weasley looked like that? Casting his mind back all he could think of her was as a nervous looking child. When did she grow up? And fill out? And get kind of hot?

Draco snapped his eyes away quickly. “Weasley.” He finished, twisting his mouth around the name. So much for perks.

“Malfoy.” The girl responded, after a slight pause in which she narrowed her eyes at the blond in front of her.

Madam Pince cleared her throat noisily, deflecting the attention back to herself. “Yes. Well, yes. You will both be on library duties this term, and let me assure you there will be plenty for you to be getting on with. There are many jobs which will need your attention, and I anticipate this being a good year for the librarys development with two such talented students on board to help.”

Draco had glanced quickly at Ginny on Madam Pince’s words about “talented students”, surprised to hear the Weasley being linked with such high praise from the librarian. His mood did not improve when his eyes caught the girl’s – who was in the act of doing just the same as him, the doubt of his talents etched all over her face. Draco began to narrow his eyes at the girl menacingly when the woman in front of him once again demanded his attention.

“So! Tonight I will just give you a tour of the library, including some of the areas you may not have seen, and I will explain some of the duties you will be assigned. Follow me!”

Draco glanced somewhat fearfully at Madam Pince’s back, before turning to Ginny. He silently raised his eyebrows at her and held out his arm toward Madam Pince’s retreating figure in an “after you” fashion, causing her to hesitate slightly as she met his eyes, before turning her attention to the tour, and leading the way to follow Madam Pince.

***************

“Well, I hope you found that a useful and enlightening tour!” The librarian smiled in a somewhat strained manner. “We will finish there for the evening and you can begin your tasks in earnest tomorrow. Off you go!”

Ginny smiled and thanked Madam Pince, somewhat surprised to hear Malfoy do the same – since when did he have manners? She awkwardly walked side by side with him to the door, which he reached and held open for her absently. The action stopped her in his tracks, this was some of the most un-Malfoyish behaviour she had ever seen him display, and she was rather confused by it. Her pause gave him reason to glance up at her, confused by the delay, which jolted her into stepping through the door.

“What?” He questioned as he stepped into the corridor behind her, closing the door.

“What?” she snapped back, annoyed and confused by his behaviour. His only response was to raise an eyebrow at her. “What?” she repeated. “I was thinking, Malfoy, it is encouraged in some of the Hogwarts houses you know.” She said hotly, before turning away from him and beginning her journey to the common room. She heard what sounded like a puff of amused air escape him and she looked back to have her thought confirmed by a smile on the boy’s face, as he looked away from her and tugged on the strap of his shoulder bag.

“What?” she repeated once more, starting to realise this was the main word of their “conversation” so far. The boy just shook his head slightly, causing Ginny to fully turn back to him and demand: “tell me!”

He looked up at her, seeming surprised she hadn’t yet fled. He seemed to contemplate her in earnest for a few moments before quickly shifting his eyes away.

“Never mind,” he finally answered, before taking a short breath and holding it for a second as if unsure whether to continue. “See you tomorrow,” he quickly mumbled, fleetingly looking at her once more, before turning and quickly walking away.

***************

There’s the first chapter……. Thanks for reading! I just had a bit of an urge to write a bit of D/G so thought I’d tap something out and see what people thought. If I get good reviews I’ll carry it on, if not…. ;)

2. OH NO! Not an author's note!!

Yes, I'm afraid it's just an author's note this time - my reasons are sound though! After asking people to review the last chapter, I realised that I hadn't been able to review on Portkey for ages as it just errors. So I am hoping that some of you would just LOVE to review, but actually can't because of Portkey playing up ;) to test this theory (I know it's a long shot) I've created a little blog in the hopes that people might let me know what they think about my stories on there.

And hopefully Portkey will let me post the link to it…..

http://fanficfeedback.blogspot.com/

There we go :-S !

-->

3. Work Begins

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

For my two reviewers, usha88 and Nutmeg44, I hope you like it!

*******

Ginny had been unsure what to mark her preferences as when she received the small form in with her usual Hogwarts letter enquiring as to what duties she would like to be assigned in her 6th year. The teachers had decided to introduce this new scheme in order to teach 6th and 7th years about the “responsibilities that come with age”, or so they said. Amongst the students there was plenty of speculation as to what their real designs were, from trying to ensure the teachers had more time to focus their efforts on the war against evil, to supposing that actually they were beginning to worry what the students would do if they had too much time to plot and ponder on their hands. Either way, all of the 6th and 7th years had been sent a short note explaining that they would all have to take part in “extra curricular work activities to help ensure the smooth running of the school” and a list of some of the areas they might be assigned to, with a form for them to indicate their top 3 choices.

Ginny presumed she was far from the only one to choose “Quidditch supplies assistant” as a possibility (jobs included test driving the schools brooms amongst other things), and she hadn’t held out much hope for that job. Her mother had persuaded her into adding “Charms homework helper” to the list, as it was an area which she was quite talented in and she would be “making herself useful”. The only other thing she had considered was the library duties, although it seemed to her almost stupid to add it to her list, knowing that it would be Hermione’s number one. In fact, in the end it was a slight challenge to the brunette that Ginny had listed the library at all. Hermione had walked in on Ginny and Mrs Weasley discussing her options and had immediately tried to put Ginny off the idea of applying to Madam Pince. She wasn’t unkind, but the gentle nudge away from the library and towards something – anything – else had been enough to make Ginny grit her teeth slightly, and fill in the last space there and then, turning to smile at Hermione and say, “thanks Hermione, but the amount of time you spend in the library has really inspired me to take a greater interest in it this year. Maybe doing that duty would be an educational experience for me!” and with a sickly sweet smile she had reattached the parchment to the school owl which was patiently waiting, and opened the window for it before she could change her mind, or Hermione could change it for her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Hermione, it was just the way she was so convinced that Ginny wouldn’t stand a chance against her when it came to the library duties. As it was, when Ginny had found out that she had been chosen for that job whilst Hermione was to help struggling Arithmancy students with their homework, she couldn’t help but smile a little (well, ok, a lot) inside.

As Ginny made her way to the library for her first real session working there, she reflected how she hadn’t anticipated having to share the duty with Malfoy of all people. Since when did he do work? Surely he would have made some statement about “my father” to ferret his way out of this one? She frowned as she remembered the way he had acted the day before. It was surprising to say the least, and had prevented her from mentioning her “duty buddy” to her brothers or the trio. She knew exactly how they would react, and she didn’t want to deal with them kicking up a fuss about this and trying to tell her how to go about her business or what to do with the deplorable boy. She knew he was the son of a Death Eater who only knew how to be selfish and never saw the good in anyone. She knew he was a Slytherin, and yes, she knew he was a Malfoy. And she would deal with it by herself, in her own way. She hesitated outside the door to the library, well… at least unless it gets out of hand she thought, before taking a deep breath and entering the library.

Malfoy stood with one side leaning against one of the bookshelves just across from the doorway, but on the opposite side to` Madam Pince’s desk so that he was hidden from her view. He had a book in his hands which appeared to have held his interest, but as the door closed behind Ginny he glanced up, and seeing it was her, quickly snapped the book shut and stood upright, slipping out from behind the bookshelf and leading the way to the desk. Ginny pursed her lips and frowned at his back. It was almost as if he had been… waiting for her? Shaking her head she hurried after him, reaching the librarian just as she turned to acknowledge them.

“Ah, good you’re both here,” the librarian glanced at her desk to look at the complicated device which rested there, “not quite late.”

Ginny rolled her eyes slightly: she had thought the usually stern librarian had been uncharacteristically nice yesterday, obviously it had been a one off occasion for their introductory session – she certainly seemed to have recovered her usual charming personality swiftly. Malfoy looked at her questioningly as she caught his eye, and the amused look on her face rapidly disappeared as she turned her attention back to Madam Pince.

“The first thing I will have you work on here will be the restoration of a few key texts. And by restoration,” the witch explained, whilst leading them to a far corner in the library through a labyrinth of shelves, “I mean reconstruction in many cases.” They had reached an area of the library which Ginny had not noticed previously, which was segregated by a small rope. As Madam Pince reached towards it, Ginny realised it had magical properties as it unhooked itself from one side and coiled back to allow them to enter the area beyond. “This rope has now been enchanted to respond to your presence and not just my own,” they were informed, “and it will serve as an area for you to conduct some of your duties.” They rounded another large bookshelf to be greeted by one which had a desk in front of it – upon it were some quills and ink, and two books: one dusty, yellowing, and with warped pages, and the other an obviously brand new book. “You will be copying out some of the special editions we have in the library which have been rather affected by age, but which are not easily replaceable. You’ll be pleased to hear that I have already inspected examples of both of your handwriting and have deemed them adequate for the job.” Madam Pince paused, and Ginny had the feeling she had just bestowed the equivalent of a great compliment on both of them. She surprised herself by feeling pleased by the praise, and listened further as the librarian continued: “One of you will dictate from the original text whilst the other copies it down. Note that it is extremely important that you are accurate in your replication: everything must be perfect. I will be displeased with errors. Well. That is all. I shall leave you to get on with it.” And with a final forced smile the librarian whisked away.

There was an awkward silence following her departure, as both Malfoy and Ginny attempted to look anywhere but at each other. Finally, Malfoy dragged out one of the chairs in front of the desk noisily, seating himself in front of the new book. Ginny glanced at him apprehensively before pulling out the only remaining chair and seating herself next to him. She felt uncomfortably close to him, but there was enough room for both of them to have enough elbow space if they didn’t sprawl. She saw Malfoy delicately stroke the front of the new book from the corner of her eyes before flipping the cover open and exposing the new page, which he smoothed out with his pale hand. Like everything else she had observed of Malfoy in the past few days, the action surprised her. It seemed so normal, and almost… gentle. So like something that anyone who appreciated books would do, not the kind of thing she would expect from a destructive Slytherin. Ginny roused herself from her thoughts as she noticed him reach across to the ink and load a quill, poised to begin writing. She quickly began to open the battered book in front of her, before a creak in its spine made her slow and turn the page with more care. She sighed slightly as she saw the title: “The Originals and Origins of Muggle Stories Concerning Magical Creatures”. She could only hope it was slightly interesting – though she supposed she should feel lucky it wasn’t anything more complex. She began to turn the page again to begin the book when Malfoy spoke for the first time.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a slightly peevish tone.

“I’m finding the beginning, Malfoy, what does it look like?” Ginny replied in a somewhat strained voice, annoyed at his manner.

“Weasley,” the boy began in a low voice, “didn’t you hear what she said? It has to be an exact copy.” He enunciated clearly, looking up at her with eyebrows raised. She in turn frowned, before looking back to the title page on the book and understanding what he was getting at.

“No way, title pages and everything?” she whined slightly, catching sight of him shrugging casually. “Ugh, fine. OK, ready?” he nodded curtly, eyes set on the blank page in front of him. “Right. The Originals and Origins of Muggle Stories Concerning Magical Creatures by Grendalso-”

“Is that a new line?”

“What?” the red head replied turning to the blond, whose focus still lay on his page, now containing the title. She had to admit his script was elegant, but what was he on about now? He sighed seeming annoyed before answering:

“If this is going to be at all efficient you need to tell me when to start a new line, or a new page. Hopefully you’ll be good enough at reading to make it obvious when a new sentence starts.” He paused as Ginny’s eyes narrowed at him, but before she could retort he looked up at her again, his grey eyes showing no sign of malice. “You know I’m right. I’m not trying to be… Look, if we do it wrong she’ll just make us do it again wont she? And I don’t know about you but I don’t fancy getting on her bad side on our first day, not when we’ve got to come back every day until Christmas anyway…” he looked away from her then, and Ginny realised he was right. She didn’t exactly want to give him the satisfaction of saying it so explicitly so though.

“The Originals and Origins of Muggle Stories Concerning Magical Creatures, new line, by Grendalso Herbone. New page…”

*******

An hour and a half later Ginny’s voice was interrupted by a small note landing on the page in front of her. Malfoy glanced up at her as she opened it and explained to him:

“Madam Pince says our time is up.” She stood quickly, brushing against Malfoy’s arm as she did so, and flinched quickly from the contact, recoiling from him slightly. She quickly gathered her things, looking at him slyly as she did so to see if he had noticed her extreme reaction. He had his jaw clenched tightly, and his eyes were hard as he grabbed his own belongings, but before she could think of anything to say he had stood, and walked away. What’s the matter with me? Ginny thought to herself in annoyance. She shouldn’t feel bad for flinching from him, he was a Slytherin for goodness sake, rubbing against them was not a desirable situation to be in! Ginny hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and turned her back on the desk, trying to ignore the small voice which was saying: why is your skin still tingling from his touch then?

4. Role Reversal

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

I hope anyone who is sticking with this story has enjoyed it so far, and that this chapter continues to please :)

Thanks for reading! And extra special thanks to those who have reviewed, it means a lot!

*******

Draco strode away from the library as quickly as he could without seeming to run. There weren’t many people around at this time of the evening, but those who saw him shrank back slightly and averted their eyes from his burning gaze.

It was only when he reached the dungeons that Draco stopped abruptly, realising he had no desire what so ever to enter the Slytherin common room. He turned angrily on his heel and stalked to a nearby classroom. Finding it deserted he entered and shut the door.

The boy leaned against it, and closed his eyes. His heart was pounding, and when it refused to slow he furiously pulled his bag off his shoulder and threw it against the opposite wall in frustration. He marched up to the other end of the classroom and finally seated himself on one of the desks, swinging his legs on to the chair in front of it.

The way that girl had reacted to him… he huffed again in frustration. It made him sick. Draco wasn’t blind to his flaws, not anymore. He knew he was arrogant and selfish and… he shook his head to dispel the thoughts. Getting into a slagging match with himself wasn’t going to help; besides, it would take too long. But he wasn’t the only one with flaws. No one was perfect, and he’d done nothing to hurt the Weasley girl. Well… at least, nothing this school year. Even if that was only a few days, it should still count for something shouldn’t it? But no, she had flinched from him as if she’d been burned. He absent mindedly rubbed his arm which she had grazed with hers as she got up. It was a harmless touch… or it would have been between two normal students. But not between a Griffindor and a Slytherin. Not between a Weasley and a Malfoy.

Draco scoffed aloud. He was getting sick of everyone’s preconceived ideas. He was getting sick of being classed with the same stereotype as the half wits who cluttered Slytherin house. He didn’t want to be what everyone expected him to be anymore. He just wanted to be himself.

He sighed once more as he stood and walked over to his bag, regretting his immature behaviour. It was a shame, he reflected, that the one thing he wanted was sure to be the hardest to achieve.

*******

That night Ginny thought of Draco before she slept. She thought of her flinch, and his reaction. His clenched jaw and hard eyes seemed burned into her vision. She fell asleep remembering his hasty departure, and in her dreams, she considered stopping him go.

*******

7th year was already proving to be a difficult time for Draco. He had distanced himself from Crabbe and Goyle, and whilst he in no way missed their presence, it was odd to not have them flanking his sides as they had done for 6 years. Whilst there were plenty of other Slytherins who would have happily welcomed him into their group, Draco was tired of pretences. What was the point of socialising with people who would expect him to live up to his Malfoy brat reputation? Subsequently, the blond was spending a lot more time alone. He didn’t mind the solitude: Draco had every intention of achieving the best possible NEWT levels he could – he needed them to excel in his chosen career. If only he knew what that career would be.

Either way, when considering his options for the extra responsibilities this term he had figured that he’d rather be many places but the Slytherin common room. As he’d be studying long and hard in the library in any case he may as well have another reason to be there.

The task did not seem to be too bad so far in any case. The Weasley’s presence was an unexpected… glitch? He frowned as he thought of her again. He wouldn’t care to admit it but her reaction to him yesterday still stung. He dragged his mind away from the incident as thoughts of the girl made him realise she would be arriving soon. He gathered his things from the secluded desk he was working at in the library. Keeping one book clutched in his hands as if in self defence; he hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and wound his way through the bookshelves to lurk behind the one directly opposite the door. He had seen the surprised, almost suspicious look, which Weasley had given him the previous day as she had encountered him waiting there. Draco didn’t care: he certainly didn’t fancy standing at the librarian’s desk waiting for the Griffindor, and he was sure Madam Pince wouldn’t enjoy it either. He also suspected that the red head wouldn’t appreciate it if he were set to a task before she arrived and was given the duty of telling her what to do – he smirked at the thought.

He had just come to the end of the bookshelf when the library door opened and the out of breath girl stumbled in. She’d obviously been close to be running late and not wished to provoke the wrath of “The Pincer” as some had nicknamed the witch. Seeing her in this state Draco couldn’t completely suppress his natural male urges – in her rush it appeared that Ginnys skirt had hiked a little further up her legs than usual, her tie was only loosely done up and her hair was in slight disarray. The overall appearance was actually quite… appealing.

Draco cleared his throat in denial of the thought, causing Ginny to snap her eyes to him at once, and narrow slightly as she closed the door behind her.

“What are you looking at?” she questioned in hushed, annoyed tones. As he raised his eyebrows at her and ran his eyes over her in an explanatory manner she flushed, her heated face adding to her pleasing appearance. Draco looked away, glancing at Madam Pince’s desk and then raising his cuff slightly to check the time.

“We’re not late yet if you want to… sort yourself out.” He muttered, rearranging his bag on his shoulder and trying to keep his eyes from the Griffindor. What had gotten into him? It had obviously been too long if even the sight of a Weasley looking a bit like she’d fallen out of a session in a broom closet caught his attention.

She cleared her throat slightly and as he looked back up he noted she had successfully rearranged herself. And after seeing the approval on his face she led the way to the desk.

“Ah, you’re both here. Excellent.” The librarian greeted them. “Today I would like you to carry on with your task, however I have realised the inequalities in the work that you are doing, and therefore suggest that you take it in turns to copy out text and to dictate. As I have no desire for a book which switches from one persons script to another you will also have to swap texts. One day one of you can write the text for The Originals and Origins of Muggle Stories Concerning Magical Creatures, and the next day the other can take a turn with the writing. The other book will be from a series of The Annotated Works of Shakespeare – a much celebrated Muggle playwright. We are lucky enough to boast a selection of his works which have been annotated by the man himself, who was in fact a wizard.” Draco nodded at the sense of taking turns – he had not been looking forward to how the extra hours of non-stop writing would cramp his hand, and it would nice to be able to use his voice occasionally. “Off you go then,” the librarian dismissed them, “the new books are on the table you were at yesterday waiting for you.”

*******

As they took their seats at the desk, Ginny pulled the blank book towards her, content to have a turn at the writing. Something was troubling her though, and as Malfoy flicked through the beginning pages of the book to first the start she couldn’t help but say:

“You have a watch.” He paused and looked at her, somewhat surprised by her instigation of unnecessary conversation.

“I’m sorry?” he finally responded.

“On your wrist. A watch. A muggle watch.” She looked at the boy next to her, trying to gauge his reaction. She was unsatisfied however, when he simply shrugged, and turned back to the book in front of him.

“The Annotated Works of-”

“Is that it?” Ginny asked, mimicking his shrug. He looked up at her again, frowning slightly.

“What do you expect me to say?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she spluttered, “something that would explain what you, a pro-pureblood anti -Muggle elitist is doing with a ticking wristwatch!”

“You’d be disappointed if I told you,” he said, smiling slightly.

“What do you mean disappointed? Any explanation is better than none.” Ginny pointed out, stubbornly curious. She literally had no idea what could have possessed the boy to wear the sleek black and silver device, even if he did keep it hidden up his sleeve.

Seeing the look on her face Malfoy obviously realised she wasn’t going to let it go without an answer. He hesitated slightly before saying:

“I don’t know why. I just got it over the summer.”

“Where from?”

“London.” He replied succinctly.

“You mean to tell me you got that from Diagon Alley?” Ginny scoffed.

“No,” Malfoy sighed, “I didn’t say anything about Diagon Alley.”

“Then-” realisation dawned slowly for Ginny, “You got it from Muggle London?” she asked, incredulity in her voice.

“Are we going to get started or what?” Malfoy asked, annoyance suddenly colouring his voice.

*******

It had been uncomfortably tense in the air for some time after Ginny’s watch questions, but before too long they were both too engrossed in their work to pay it much heed. After some sharp and clipped discussion they had decided to write the story first, and go back to the annotations after, to save time. Draco had begun reading Measure for Measure, and Ginny had soon forgotten the mystery of the watch and was listening to the story. She copied it all down diligently, but was impressed by Draco’s telling of the tale. His voice, which she had hardly heard over the past few days, shaped the words beautifully, and it was a surprise to her how nice his voice was when it didn’t twist words with malice as it always had done when she’d encountered the Slytherin in previously years.

When the note landed in front of Draco to dismiss them for the evening, Ginny was almost disappointed – she had been enjoying the tale. She was tempted to reach over and scan ahead in the book, but before she could Malfoy closed the large tome. She quickly cleaned the quill she had been using, realising how quiet it had suddenly become, and starting to feel uncomfortable. Draco swept up his things and stood, before glancing at her quickly, and walking away.

The area suddenly seemed too quiet, cold and lonely, and Ginny hastened from the library, trying not to think about the sound of Draco’s voice.

5. Gnomes and Ink Blots

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.

6. Blushes and Lips

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

I hope you like this one… Please let me know!

*******

An absent smile spread across Ginny’s face at breakfast the next morning as she played with her porridge.

“Gin? Ginny?” Harry’s voice caught her attention. She looked up at him quickly, apologising for not paying attention.

“Sorry, Harry. What’s up?”

“Nothing… you were just sat there smiling to yourself… What were you thinking about?” he questioned her curiously.

Ginny blushed. She’d been smiling to herself? She nearly grimaced as she realised. She had been thinking about Dra-Malfoy last night, and the joke about her making the gnomes ferocious… she brought her attention back to Harry, feeling the heat in her cheeks.

“Oh… nothing. Um, just a stupid dream I had!” she smiled brightly, trying to deflect his attention. It seemed to work, as he returned her smile with one of his own, and turned back to talk to Hermione and Ron.

Merlin knows what his reaction would have been to the truth. Oh I was just thinking about this joke me and Malfoy shared last night, in one of the sessions we spend together in a confined corner of the library, alone. Ginny blushed again at the thought, and her eyes were inadvertently drawn to the Slytherin in question. She was pretty sure that it wasn’t right that when she caught sight of him, sat at the Slytherin table hunched over a book, her stomach did a little flip. She abruptly left the table, suddenly dreading seeing the blond boy again that night.

*******

Draco’s attention was pulled from his morning read at breakfast by catching a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. He glanced up to watch Ginny stalk out of the hall, and frowned as he wondered why she looked like she was running from something. Maybe he could ask her tonight… Yeah right, Draco, like she’d talk to you about it, he admonished himself. He was just a Slytherin, and a Malfoy, even if she had said goodbye to him last night. She could talk to Potter about her problems. His gaze slipped to the raven haired boy. The Griffindor had no idea how lucky he was.

*******

Draco was getting anxious. She was cutting it a bit fine wasn’t she? She was going to come wasn’t she? He frowned at his thoughts, and tried to block out the part of him that was insisting he cared whether she was there or not. Just because she had acted like she might accept he was a human being there was no need to think she enjoyed spending this time with him.

Just then the door opened, and he was relieved to see her slip in. He almost smiled at her, as she hesitated, looking at him. He quickly took a step toward her, before leading the way to the desk.

Madam Pince hailed them over as she saw them approaching. “I’m afraid there is a different task for today,” she began. “In an effort to decrease the number of quills which are constantly being ordered for the school, I have proposed to the Headmaster that all of the school quills be gathered up and tested and then made available for re-use. Professor Dumbledore has seen the wisdom in this plan and all of the teachers have been instructed to search or summon all of the quills in their classroom. This evening you will need to visit each of the classrooms to collect them, in preparation for your work testing them next week.” Draco could only imagine how fun that would be, and he sensed Ginny’s deflation next to him too. At least they didn’t have to start that until Monday though. “You can deposit them in the area beyond the rope behind where you have been working; you will see there is a clear space there for them. I suggest you work out a system to save time, but ultimately it is up to you. As many as possible need to be gathered this evening, although I don’t expect you to reach all of the rooms. I caution you to NOT summon or banish them – injuries have been caused in the past by a cloud of flying quills, as I’m sure you can imagine.” With that wince-worthy image and a stern look the librarian left them.

Draco turned to Ginny, seeing him looking at her, as he offered: “Do you want to start at the top and work your way down?”

“What?” she asked, startled, and Draco looked at her oddly before clarifying.

“I mean, I could start at the bottom and work my way up. And you could work your way down.” Seeing her befuddled expression he slowly continued: “The top classrooms? And I’ll start in the dungeons?”

“Oh,” comprehension flooded her face, “oh right. Yes. Yes. Fine. I’ll start from the top then. And work my way… down.” She said, blushing for some reason the Slytherin couldn’t fathom.

“Right then…” he gave her one last confused look before heading off to start in the dungeons.

*******

What the hell is wrong with you?! Ginny thought to herself furiously as she headed up to the top levels of the castle. She’d been in a world of her own and those words… she came to a sudden halt in the corridor and then ducked behind a tapestry into a hidden alcove she knew was there from her “lessons” with Fred and George from previous years. She rested her forehead against the cool stone and willed herself to cool down. She could barely admit it to herself, but she’d been looking at Draco, at his lips… thinking about his voice telling her stories, his smile as he joked with her… his words “do you want to start at the top and work your way down…” had brought images flashing into her mind of her working her way down his body…

“Get a grip, Weasley.” She told herself furiously, and ducked out of the alcove to gather quills.

Reaching the highest classrooms (that she knew of at least – she was certain there were more but Madam Pince had said she didn’t expect them to get to them all after all) she opened the first door she came to and saw that there was indeed a small pile of rather battered looking quills lying on the desk. Casting a levitating charm on them, Ginny manipulated them to all point downwards – heedful of the librarians warning – and controlled them to travel slowly out of the door next to her, and on to the next classroom, where she magicked the next set of quills to join them.

*******

Meanwhile Draco was in the dungeons, collecting quills from the Potions classroom. As he levitated them, he added a complex spell to keep the quills floating in an invisible force field, wary of not wanting to be stabbed in the back. At least this meant he couldn’t act on his impulse to question Ginny about her abrupt departure from the Great Hall this morning. It meant he wouldn’t be trying to think of ways to accidentally brush against her, to see if her reaction would be different from how it had been earlier in the week. He suspected it would be, considering the casual way she had touched him, albeit briefly, in their session the previous night. He wondered if she had thought about it, or just reached out to touch him instinctively… he thought back to her confused look earlier, he could have sworn he’d caught her looking at his lips…

He slammed into the next room angrily trying to dismiss his thoughts. And so what if she had been? What was he trying to read into that, exactly? That she wanted to kiss him? He huffed in wry amusement at the thought as he levitated the next set of quills and enchanted them to join his growing collection. As if she’d let him.

Wait – what? Draco stopped his steps as he headed towards the classroom door. Did he… Fuck. He did. He wanted to kiss her.

*******

It was quite some time later that the two assistants found themselves walking towards each other – to meet outside the library.

“Nice magic,” Draco commented with a smirk as he saw Ginny’s floating quills all neatly pointing to the floor.

She smiled a little, “you too.” She replied, watching the quills float around, gently bouncing off an invisible edge to his magic. She opened the door to the library and led the way through the labyrinth of shelves to their area, and stepped into it to weave around the bookshelves, and walk further into the space than she had before, past their desk. True to her word, the librarian had cleared a wide area between some shelves, and another desk sat at one end of it, separate from the shelves. Ginny deposited her quills neatly on the ground, as Draco did the same with his. She smirked at the way hers lay in neat rows, as his fell from their floating in a disruptive heap. He obviously heard her smirk, and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Seeing her satisfaction, he quickly flicked his wand, causing his collection to suddenly arrange themselves in neat rows, all stood balancing on the point of their nib. Ginny smiled and huffed good naturedly, causing the Slytherin to smile, and with another flick, her quills jumped to attention too. She smiled coyly at the magic, looking up at Draco. His own smile remained on his face as he looked at her smugly.

Ginny’s eyes fell onto the smile that adorned his lips, and her own smile gradually fell as she found herself licking her lips and delicately dragging her teeth over her bottom lip. She looked away suddenly and cleared her throat before looking back at Draco. His eyes betrayed him – she knew he had noticed her behaviour. She quickly looked away from the fire in his eyes and tried to catch her breath as she swept quickly past him, and out of the library.

7. Moving on to Saturday

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

A/N at end of chapter!

*******

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.

******

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.”

*******

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

8. Cakes in the Library

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

I googled the Malfoy motto so hope it’s right ;) also, I know the bit of magic Draco works in his dorm would probably be impossible in Hogwarts as I’m sure they would take measures to stop that sort of thing, but I figure Draco is a talented boy ;)

I’m sorry it has taken so long for this update I have been mega busy but I hope you enjoy it… let me know!

*******

A muggle man was bound by invisible bonds, a silencing spell placed upon him. Draco watched, unable to look away as the man screamed until he was red in the face and his veins looked close to bursting – all to no avail. Not a sound escaped him. Draco’s face was hard, and one side of it was a harsh red, contrasting strikingly with his pale skin. A reminder to face forward, face this truth, not to turn away. “You will do this Draco. You will become this. To deny it is to deny your family. Your honour. Your name. You are a Malfoy. Planto Nex non Bellum! Avada Kedavra!”

Draco awoke with a shudder, feeling cold dread engulf his heart at the dream he had just endured. Memory - not dream, he reminded himself grimly. Planto Nex non Bellum. Draco gave a quiet derisive laugh at the family motto. Make Death Not War – meaning: don’t fight them, just kill them. The youngest Malfoy angrily wiped the slight wetness that was forming at his eyes as he sat up in his four poster bed. He recalled how the slumped body had showed no sign of movement except for the tears which continued to run down the man’s face, even after life had left his eyes. Draco had stood, in silence, for many minutes. He had felt Lucius’ gaze boring into him, but his own eyes had not left the man’s face. Eventually, after an eternity, he had realised he needed to speak, needed to get away. He spat to the side, hoping to expel the need to vomit, to clear his mouth of the iron taste of his own blood. His eyes had finally met his father’s. “May I leave?” Lucius had eyed him slowly, but nodded. Draco had guessed then – guessed that Lucius assumed Draco had spat at the memory of the muggle, spat on his existence. Lucius was wrong.

Draco had adapted his personal space as soon as he had the chance after arriving back at Hogwarts, casting an extension charm to the upper panel of his four poster. This meant that although his bed was the same size, the curtains now hung down leaving a foot wide gap around his bed, which meant he had enough room to stand and walk around the edge of his bed without having to leave the privacy of the drawn curtains. What’s more, he had managed to make it an Undetectable Extension Charm. The perk of this was that one of the traits of the spell was to make the area extended act as if it had had a silencing spell on it – it wouldn’t be very undetectable if whatever was enclosed revealed itself through sound. This meant that Draco had managed to surround himself in a wall of silence, and this insulated him from being heard by others in his dorm.

Draco leaned over to view his watch, and saw the hands pointing at 11am. He sighed heavily as he pulled himself out of bed. The library would probably already be packed with students who had spent the previous day enjoying the freedom of the weekend, thus ensuring Sunday was a panic to get Monday's homework completed.

Mercifully he could hear no sounds from his dorm, and presumed the other Slytherins were occupying themselves with one or another of their more unsavoury past times. After a quick shower and dressing, Draco gathered his book bag and headed for the library, a place he was getting more and more acquainted with.

Hoping he would find a free table, he was nevertheless unsurprised when upon entering the library his initial thoughts were confirmed. As he wove through the aisles it appeared that every private space was filled. Having no desire to sit on the edge of a group of friends and be stared at like a leper, Draco pushed further into the depths. Almost accidentally he had trodden a course which had brought him to the roped entrance of the area he and Ginny completed their library duties in. A thought occurred to him, and he walked confidently towards it. The rope willingly let him pass, and Draco smiled almost in relief as he rounded the edge of a bookshelf and found himself at his and Ginny's dictation desk. He carefully pushed their books to the back of the desk, aware that damaging them would cause mass hysteria among at least two women. Opening his own books at the newly created space, Draco congratulated himself on acquiring a duty which had effectively supplied him with a place of privacy, seemingly at any time.

It was a few hours later when Draco began to contemplate lunch. He was just starting to wonder whether it would be safe to leave his books and bag at the desk whilst he ate; when he suddenly heard footsteps approach. He turned just in time to see a red faced Ginny stop in her tracks, squealing a noise of surprise. He looked at her suspiciously, wondering what she was doing.

"Oh." She finally said. "It’s you."

He was aware he was looking at her as though she were a bit of a moron when she huffed:

"Well you just surprised me. Obviously I wasn't expecting anyone to be here."

He nodded at that, and as she continued to stare at him he felt the need to break the uncomfortable silence. "Well," he said, awkwardly clearing his throat, "I am." Who's the moron now, Malfoy? he thought to himself dumbly at his less than smooth response.

Ginny looked torn as she hovered on the edge of the space surrounding the table, and she finally explained her hesitation as words tumbled from her lips.

"Look Malfoy, I know this isn't exactly comfortable but I really could do with working here too. It’s jammed out there... As I'm sure you already know. And everyone’s being so damn noisy I'm surprised Pince isn't having a fit! There's no way I can concentrate out there. So... I'm going to sit here. Too. If you don't mind."

She seemed to add the last bit grudgingly, but her words had made Draco smile, as he understood her frustration. Realising she was uncertainly waiting for an answer he replied. "No. Of course not..." He apprehensively slid over a little to create more room.

She gratefully walked over to the desk, unloading her things. Draco didn't pay her much attention until she sat down, and then drew four massive chicken sandwiches out of her bag and placed them on the table in front of her. He eyed them in disbelief, and she must have caught his look.

"What?" She asked defensively. "I suddenly remembered I had this assignment due and figured I hadn't got time for dinner, so I nipped by the kitchens."

"So I see," Draco responded, quickly looking away.

Ginny rolled her eyes in response. "Alright Malfoy, I know my eyes are bigger than my stomach is, but I'm starving. I didn't have breakfast." And with that she picked up a sandwich and dug in.

Malfoy couldn't help be jealous in his hungered state, but now that she was there he found it hard to find the will to leave for the Great Hall. After a moment she hesitantly spoke again.

"Have you, um. Have you eaten? Lunch I mean."

Draco looked at her to see a blush colour her cheeks, and she quickly looked disinterestedly away from his grey eyes. "No." He curtly answered, fixing his own eyes back on his work. After a slight pause she replied:

"Well. You're welcome to... I mean if you even like chicken sandwiches... I know it’s nothing special but..."

God, why did she have to sound so stupid? Ginny thought to herself as she spoke. She sighed and tried to start again.

"You can have a sandwich if you like," she stated simply, feeling the blush rise up again. It was a stupid gesture, and she prepared herself for humiliation as Malfoy retorted he wouldn't be seen dead eating a chicken sandwich rather than a full roast on a Sunday, and in a library nonetheless. She was therefore surprised when his hopeful, "seriously?" reached her ears. She glanced over at him to check he wasn't taking the piss, but seeing his expression she decided he wasn't.

"Sure," she said, tearing her eyes away from him. "Go ahead."

As Malfoy happily tucked in to a sandwich Ginny tried to block out the thoughts his intense grey eyes had stirred in her. She had dreamt of him again last night, though only briefly. She dreamt that they were here, in the library, in their section. Malfoy had reached over to check a spelling on her page and their hands had brushed, and from there things had suddenly changed, the air had been thick with expectation as their eyes locked. Ginny had wanted him so much, she had awoken surprised again to not find him there, and confused beyond belief.

At the end of the day, Ginny thought to herself with a small frown on her face, he is hot. And beautiful. And really, really hot. And now she had noticed it, there didn't seem to be much chance of making herself un-notice it. She knew he was a slimy, evil, Slytherin git on the inside. But unfortunately, on the outside, it was a whole different matter.

"Could you just watch my stuff for a minute?" Malfoy’s awkward request broke her from her thoughts. She looked at him in surprise and saw a small measure of defiance or something akin to it enter his eyes, which he didn’t move from staring at her, even as he looked acutely uncomfortable.

"Sure," she complied quickly, hoping to lessen the tension she could see in his face. For a split second he looked relieved, before quickly standing and exiting.

"Pull yourself together Ginny," she whispered to herself sternly. Thoughts of how cute he looked when he was unsure were not helpful. It was just hard, Ginny reflected, to hate him so much when he hadn't done anything in the past week to give her ammunition. When she had first realised she would be sharing the job with him she had expected the time to be torture, for him to bombard her with insults and judgements about her family, her hair, her blood traitor status... Anything. But he hadn't so much as hinted at any of that. He'd been... Polite. He'd made her laugh. He'd let her join him today when he could have complained about her presence. He’d eaten her sandwich. She smiled to herself absently.

She heard footsteps approaching and hastily looked back to her work so that she could at least pretend she had been working in Malfoy’s absence. How long had she been daydreaming? She made a concerted effort not to look up when he dragged the chair out from beside her, but her attention was caught when an array of cakes and pastries were laid out before her. She looked up in surprise at Malfoy.

"Thought you might still be hungry," he smirked, before picking up a slice of treacle tart and tucking in, instantly absorbed again by his work.

Ginny was glad of his diverted attention as she was sure a blush was rising on her cheeks, so she quickly reached out and took an eclair.

"Thanks, she murmured, and saw him nod although his eyes never left the page. “Madam Pince will kill us if she finds this lot here though, you know.”

"It's ok," Draco said, finally looking up at her and smiling beautifully, "I can magic them away." He explained in a mysterious tone, and once more a Weasley laughed at a Malfoy, but in a very different way from usual.

*******

It was much later that Ginny had finally finished all of her homework, and she shut the last book with a satisfied smile. Her and Draco hadn't spoken much, but their silence wasn't awkward, and occasionally they had spoken about the merits of each of the cakes they were eating, and discussed their favourites. When Ginny had confessed her love of chocolate brownies, Draco had frowned slightly and said, "I'm sorry I didn't bring any up." Ginny was so taken aback by his comment that she quickly laughed and said, "Yeah well you'll know for next time won't you Malfoy." To which he had quietly replied "I suppose I will".

"I'm done" Ginny stated, a small measure of relief colouring her words as she stood and began to pack her bag. Malfoy made no response so Ginny continued: "you can't still be working?"

"I'm just doing some further reading," he replied cautiously. Ginny carefully tried to peer at the book he was studying without alerting him to her prying.

"Isn't that advanced NEWT level work?" She asked with shock when she realised what she was looking at - work that she only knew Hermione was undertaking.

Malfoy’s head snapped up as he caught her peering and he quickly stood.

"Weasley, it’s just further reading. I'm not taking the advanced levels, I'm just trying to educate myself further. Ok? I'm not taking the tests." He paused, then looked carefully into Ginny’s eyes. "Please... Please don't tell Potter or Granger or your brother about this. They'll think..." He trailed off and seemed to pick up again on another angle, "Granger would throw a fit if I were taking the same levels as her. And I'm not. So no need for her to panic. Ok?"

His eyes seemed to beg Ginny, to search inside her to see what her answer would be before she spoke. He stood over her but leaned down slightly to look at her better. He seemed so worried she quickly wanted to reassure him.

"Sure, Draco," she replied. "I won't say a thing." She flashed him a quick smile and saw tension leave his body, then quickly turned and walked away.

Since when had she started calling him Draco?

9. Strops and Stolen Looks

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

I’m so sorry for not updating for so long, I feel very bad for those few loyal readers who I have left hanging! All I can say is that unfortunately I’m very busy at the moment so I can’t promise when the next update will be, but that I haven’t given up on this story. It would be great to hear what you think of this chapter, thanks for reading!

*******

Ginny stormed into the library, on the brink of being late, and didn't even spare a glance at the blond opposite her who was so obviously awaiting her arrival. She swept toward Madam Pince and as she arrived at the librarian’s desk was only vaguely aware of the casually unaffected stroll of Malfoy languidly following her. When Malfoy reached the desk Madam Pince wasted no time in instructing them that they were to spend the week testing the quills which had been collected from all over the castle.

“Manually?” Ginny cried, nearly rolling her eyes. Madam Pince’s response was a raise in her own eyebrows as she informed the Griffindor that many of the quills had been charmed in one way or another and it would therefore take as long to check them with magic as without, as so many counter charms would need to be put in place and would still not guarantee blanket fixtures.

With a stern nod Madam Pince dismissed them and Ginny stalked off again leaving Malfoy trailing lazily behind. Coming to the place where they had dumped the quills they had collected the previous Friday, Ginny noticed the new edition of another table next to the pile, with two chairs facing each other and parchment and ink laid out in front of the spaces. In addition there was a large tome entitled “Chaos Causing Charms and their Counters”. It took a moment for Ginny to realise it but the book had the air of a journal about it, and she realised it was hand written by Hogwarts librarians throughout the years. Opening the cover she found there was a section entitled quills, and she quickly turned to that. Glancing over the subheadings Ginny was dismayed to see the list was rather long and it wouldn't just be a simple case of a quill being either in perfect condition or broken beyond repair – there were many possibilities. She frowned miserably, taking in the various problems they might encounter in their task.

*******

Draco strolled around the corner to find a very frustrated looking Weasley inspecting the book before her. He was surprised at the sight of her in such a mood. He frowned in imitation of her, wondering what could be wrong. Recalling himself, he looked quickly away and at the pile of quills that lay in wait. Approaching the desk he sat opposite Ginny and cautiously extracted the first quill from the pile. After a moment inspecting it he decided to hell with it, and lowered the nib into the inkwell and then to the stack of blank parchment before him. He was surprised to find nothing immediately apparently wrong with the quill as he wrote his full name, however, as soon as he had lifted the quill again he frowned to see the letters rearrange themselves.

“What the –” he began haughtily, causing the hot tempered red head opposite him to glare across.

“What is it?” She almost snapped, and he frowned in response.

“I was testing this quill. I wrote my name and it now it looks like this,” he responded curtly, and held the parchment up for her to read the words “Cod fly aroma” written there. He braced himself for her laugh, but instead she quirked a delicate brow at him, and after a moment she reached over and swiftly pulled the quill from his loose grasp. Settling it upon her own parchment she began to write. Draco waited patiently and watched her face as she finished writing. She looked at the parchment expectantly and frowned slightly before rolling her eyes and lightly throwing the quill back towards him.

“What does it say?”

“ “Weasel Vinegary”. It’s an anagram, that's obviously what the quill does. I'll look up the spell to fix it in here.” She said and turned back to the book in front of her. Despite having shared a few words with him her general demeanour did not seem much improved, and Draco noticed she was more slumped than usual. He frowned again, and just then she looked up at him, and caught his eye. Expecting her anger he looked swiftly away, and was unsurprised when she snapped at him again:

“What?”

“Nothing.” He replied quietly, and proceeded to inspect his surroundings in what could only be described as acute boredom. At least, that was how it would appear outwardly. Inside the Malfoy was struggling to berate himself for wondering if the Weasley girl was angry… whilst equally wondering was she angry? He leaned away from the table in a lazy manner, concealing any sign of the interest he felt in the girl opposite him.

“Vasta Anagrammi!” Ginny suddenly declared waving her wand at the quill in front of him. He eyed the object as it turned briefly blue, then looked at the girl across from him. She stared back in silence for a few seconds before clenching her jaw and saying, “try it then” between her teeth. He sat up and slowly took up the quill. Smiling slightly, he wrote two words, and when they did not rearrange themselves he held the piece of parchment up for her to see with a larger smile.

Ginny blushed slightly, and turned back to the book in front of her, as he reached for the next quill.

The parchment read: thank you.

*******

Ginny had been so caught up in her own frustrated thoughts until Draco’s note, but when he held up that parchment to her she couldn’t help but feel pleased. At least he treated her like an equal she thought angrily, then smirked to herself at the absurdity of the thought. She could feel Draco eyeing her from across the table, probably wondering at the sound which escaped her, but she refused to meet his gaze and angrily flipped over a few more pages in the book. She contented herself with pretending to read an entry until Draco told her what the problem with the next quill was – then she would focus. But right now all she could do was fume internally. The cheek of the “Golden Trio” – a twisted smile adorned her face at the thought of the phrase – they acted like she was a child. As if she knew nothing! As if she had never had to face dangers –

“Ginevra!”

The sound of her Christian name cut through her thoughts and she looked across at Malfoy with some surprise – and not a little irritation.

“Yes, Draco?” she asked sardonically, before remembering how she had called him Draco the day before, and realising that this wasn’t the first time after all.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for about a minute.” The blond huffed slightly, and she turned her eyes away from him. She’d obviously been completely lost in her thoughts.

“Look I’m not particularly in the mood for this, ok Malfoy?” she said, and it came out much more tired sounding than the acidity she was aiming for. She stood from the desk, and walked to the bookshelf behind her, idly running her finger over their spines reading their titles. After a moment she heard Draco sigh quietly, and the sound of something sliding over the table. Harry acted like he still wanted a future with her some day, but his babying of her made it seem impossible. She was sure she was over him, as she had told Luna. The problem was, how to tell him that. Bizarrely he still seemed under the impression that even though he wasn’t with her, she was in some way his. She frowned at the thought, then quickly smoothed her features, remembering her mother telling her how wrinkled she would be when she was older.

Curious, she turned her head slightly to peek over her shoulder to see what Malfoy was doing. She was surprised to find him bent over the librarian’s manual, apparently attempting to fix the next quill alone. She turned back to the bookshelf, a slight smile on her lips. It soon sank as thoughts of Harry filled her mind once more, and thoughts of all the people who would be so disappointed in her if she were to turn him down. She shouldn’t have to be with him to please anyone else, she knew that, the problem was that she couldn’t imagine anyone else understanding her objections to him. They would think what he was doing was chivalrous and noble, showing how dearly he cared for her that he wanted her safe and untroubled by his problems. Ginny, however, did not share those views. After talking with Luna she had only become more certain that what she had expressed at the lake were her true feelings. But if Harry did want to get back together with her ever, she knew how happy her mother and father would be, not to mention Ron. Harry was a great guy, and exactly what anyone would want for their daughter. She knew her parents would never dream of forcing her into anything, and they would try harder than anyone to understand how she felt, and not contradict her in any way. But she could almost see the disappointment in their faces already.

*******

When they left the library later on, Draco was surprised that Ginny waited with him whilst he gathered his things, and walked by his side to the entrance. She hadn’t attempted any further work with the quills after her little outburst, and he had struggled doggedly on without her. In truth, almost as much as the absence of her help what hindered him was the constant nagging question of what was wrong. Now, having closed the library door behind them he considered the girl next to him. She had lost the anger which had initially hung like a cloud around her, and now her face was full of such melancholy that Draco felt moved in a way he had not felt before, moved to rescue her from her misery.

He lingered outside the library door, eyes probing her face, and he was surprised when she hung back too. After an awkward moment she took a breath and looked up at him.

“Thank- you. Draco.” She said quietly, her voice breaking a little on the words. She looked away again and unwilling to make her uncomfortable he looked away too, breaking the penetrating gaze he had fixed her with.

He shrugged casually, and hooked his thumb through the strap of his shoulder bag.

“Sure.” He said awkwardly, then added: “Gives me an excuse to do fuck all tomorrow, right?” at that she looked back at him with a shocked and amused look in her eye, and smacked him lightly on the arm. He grinned and she responded by saying:

“Fuck off, Malfoy,” the sting of which was entirely removed by the grin which spread over her face, just before she turned towards the towers.

Draco smiled a little in return, and began his descent to the dungeons, his thoughts turning suddenly sour at the thought of what awaited him there.

10. Brownies Cause Confusion

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

Hope you enjoy this chapter, please review to let me know what you think!

*******

Draco was bored. Whilst he knew his grades would show the difference after all of the work he had put in, and whilst much of the studies did thoroughly engage him; he really felt like he could do with a break from the library.

At least he could switch sections now, he thought wryly as Ginny entered, and he slipped round the edge of the bookshelf. She had hesitated by the end of it, and he noticed a slightly apprehensive look on her face. Raising his eyebrows minutely he looked away again and as they passed Madam Pince and she waved them on with a “carry on as yesterday” he severely hoped the girl would help him today. He wouldn’t admit it, but it would be less boring than continuing alone.

Ginny for her part had felt nervous at approaching Malfoy. She had swept past him the day before without a second glance but after his acceptance of her foul mood yesterday and the joke they had shared at the end of the evening she felt much more kindly disposed to him.

So she hovered awkwardly waiting for him, and smiled a little nervously in greeting before they made their way to the back section of the library.

They took their places opposite each other in silence, and Ginny opened the journal in front of her to the right section.

“Do I take that to mean I get the pleasure of your helping hand today?”

Ginny’s eyes shot up to glare at Malfoy, thinking he had finally returned to the slyly bullying git she was used to at last with that sarcastic comment. However, seeing the slightly awkward (and she also noticed, hopeful) expression on his face, she realised he was being sincere in asking her. She lowered her eyes quickly, hoping he hadn’t caught the accusation in her glare.

“Yes.” She said simply, then realising it was a little blunt she added: “I’m sorry about yesterday. Thanks again for covering for me.”

She saw him shrug awkwardly and he seemed to grab for a quill to change the conversation to safer ground.

*******

One hour and several fixed quills later Ginny was furiously punching her stomach under the table, trying to quieten the rumbling of her stomach.

“Can you cover for me for a minute?” Draco suddenly asked.

“Sure!” Ginny replied in a slightly relieved tone, glad of the chance to try and get her stomach under control before he noticed and started teasing her.

As he stood and left quickly, she berated herself for having agreed to give the stupid fad diet a go which was currently popular. She had no interest in such things but when all of the girls around her had tutted and looked scornfully at the roast potatoes she was piling onto her plate earlier she had had a moment of weakness and let their silly jibes get to her. She had reluctantly swapped the potatoes for asparagus, which whilst very tasty, definitely didn’t do the same job.

Sighing, she decided to attempt a quill on her own whilst waiting for Malfoy. She was surprised when the quill she grasped quickly wriggled out of her hold and shot away. Her seeker instincts kicked in and she managed to grab the quill again, only for it to shoot out once more. It was like trying to hold onto a wet bar of soap in the bath: it kept flying away from her. Soon she was on her feet trying to snatch it from the air, and then on her chair. As it propelled itself higher, she placed her left foot on the top of the back of her chair, and leaned forward to stretch towards the rogue writing instrument. It was just centimetres from her reach and as she leaned further, she suddenly felt the chair begin to tip forwards under her, before giving a sudden lurch. Her eyes went wide with slight fear as gravity shifted beneath her, but before she could brace herself for the pain that was sure to follow her landing; strong hands gripped her hips and lifted her slightly as the chair clattered to the floor. She was lowered carefully to the floor and whipped round only to be met with the sight of Draco. She flushed bright red, completely embarrassed and yet again awaiting his sniping comments.

Once again, however, he didn’t deliver.

“Are you ok?” He asked earnestly, and she saw his hands go out as if reaching towards her before he snatched them back, and stepped back from her slightly.

“Yes,” she answered in a quiet voice, and quickly cleared her throat. “Yes. Thank you so much!” she finally gushed, a grin spreading across her face. “You saved me from certain pain and humiliation. Well, I’m not sure I’ve escaped the humiliation part, but still…” She realised she was gabbling. “You must be pretty strong, lifting me like that, I know I’m not exactly light…” Now she wasn’t sure if she sounding like she was flirting and grimaced slightly.

“As if,” he snorted. “I think that no eating policy must be working for you. Not sure I’d recommend the ridiculous stomach rumbling though, so I figured I’d try and shut the noise up.” He gestured vaguely to the table and she noticed a pile of chocolate brownies spilling out from the few napkins they were wrapped in.

“You – you heard that?”

“It was pretty hard to not hear it to be honest.”

“You bought chocolate brownies.”

“Yeah…”

“They’re my favourite.”

“That was kind of the point.” He held her gaze for a second as she admired their colour, suddenly coming back to reality when he swiftly turned away and walked back to the table.

Ginny tried to compose herself. Her hair was in disarray, and her skirt and jumper were a bit rumpled from where he had held her. The chair lay abandoned at her feet and her face was flushed from all of the combined excitement and embarrassment. Picking it up slowly she straightened out her uniform, then suddenly realised she still hadn’t got the quill which had caused all of the trouble. She turned back away from the table again and started peering around the closest bookshelf, trying to locate the writing implement.

“What are you doing?” Malfoy’s confused question reached her, and she turned back to face him.

“I was trying to reach a quill.” At his blank look Ginny continued, “When you caught me? The reason I was stood on my chair? One of the quills has some sort of enchantment to slip out of your hand. Anyway, I didn’t catch it.”

Draco was relieved when Ginny turned back away from him to continue her search, as it gave him chance to school his features. He hadn’t even considered why she was stood on her chair, and he hadn’t wanted her to question his lack of interest. The truth was he had returned from fetching the brownies only to round the corner and be confronted with the sight of Weasley’s pert behind, her skirt riding up and open as one leg was bent up on the back of the chair. He had been taken aback by the pang of desire which shot through him, and when she began to wobble he hastily dispensed of the brownies and put his hands at her hips to guide her safely down. She’d been a comfortable weight in his arms and when she’d whipped round to stand almost nose to nose with him he nearly reached out to touch her again. He’d had to force himself to take a step back, to try and clear himself of the thoughts which ran through his mind when he was in close proximity to her.

When his hands had grasped her hips, he’d had a split second urge to pull her into him, press himself up against her… he closed his eyes, trying to focus on something other than the distracting images.

“Malfoy?”

“What?” He snapped a little harshly, eyes flashing open and looking up at Ginny. Her face coloured a little and her eyes hardened, but she continued:

“I can see the quill but can’t reach it. You’re taller. You try.” She didn’t wait for an answer but walked towards him and firmly sat down in the chair opposite him. Angered at having annoyed her, he swept up and moved towards the bookshelf she had been lingering at. Peering amongst the books he saw the quill lurking. As he reached up and gripped it, he was unsurprised to find it slip from his grasp, though he was pleased that it shot itself downwards, and landed softly on the middle of the desk.

Ginny reached towards it and Malfoy quickly grasped her hand, “Don’t!” he said quickly, pulling her hand away from it. “Just leave it there and do the counter curse, OK?” Not getting a reply, he followed the girl’s line of sight to see she was staring at the hand he still held. He swiftly let go, causing her hand to fall back down to the desk, and stalked around the desk to place himself opposite her again.

He was so frustrated that whilst he was considering the feel of her body, she was stunned into silence at the smallest touch of his hand on hers. It was typical. Her babbling after he caught her before must have been down to nerves, and Draco found himself angered by the way she couldn’t just react to him as a normal person. He’d thought she was getting over her natural aversion to him: sharing food, sharing a joke… who was he kidding? She must be repulsed by him.

Unwilling to force his conversation on her he began to swiftly work his way through the quills beside him. Rather than explaining their fault to her and them puzzling it out together as they had previously done, instead Draco wrote a note explaining the issue and place it in the middle of the desk between them, on top of the offending quill. When Ginny had finished with the slippery quill she had looked up as if to ask him for the next one before noticing the one in front of her and its note. Draco tried not to watch, but he saw her eyebrows draw in a little in the middle as she read it. She looked for a moment like she might open her mouth to speak, so Draco ducked his head lower over his test sheet, pretending to be absorbed by the simple colour change quill in front of him.

*******

Ginny was thoroughly confused. She’d found herself flushed after being caught by Draco, the feel of his strong arms on her body. When he’d then reached out and caught her hand it had set her heart beat racing once more. She’d barely even registered what he’d been saying, and suddenly he was gone, opposite her once more. She’d taken the time fixing the rogue quill to try and calm herself down, only to raise her head to talk to him to then find he had started a new “system”. One which apparently didn’t involve having to speak to her. And this, for some reason, made her heart sink a little. So overall, Ginny was thoroughly confused, causing the pile of quills with their explanatory notes to build up in front of her. So when the note of dismissal came from Madam Pince, and Malfoy left as though the hounds from hell were on his heels, Ginny simply sighed and resigned herself to finishing off the backlog alone.

It was an hour later when she finally packed up, and only then did she notice the untouched brownies still resting on the edge of the table. In all of the confusion they’d completely escaped Ginny’s mind, and she groaned slightly as they would have made the time much more bearable. Deciding to indulge herself now, she reached over towards the brownies, and that was when she noticed another note, in the same cursive script that had been succinctly explaining quill problems to her all evening.

They aren’t poisoned. It read, and Ginny suddenly realised how much her opinion of Malfoy had changed, as she hadn’t ever considered that they would be.

11. Burning Desire

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

*******

Draco saw it coming and slowly lowered his toast, dropping it back on the plate in front of him. His heartbeat picked up to an alarming rate, how could he do this? He thought frantically, trying to think coherently through his fear. People thought regular howlers were bad, but the deep black of the envelope that headed towards him was much more sinister with its subtle sheen of green.

The owl dropped the envelope in front of him, and a few of the Slytherins around him looked up as he snatched it out of the air before it reached the table. None of them knew either though; none of them had experienced this before. It was a mercy that they hadn’t, as they quickly looked away from the youngest Malfoy, unwilling to feel his wrath for prying.

His fingers were already starting to burn where they held the letter, and he stood to quickly exit the Great Hall. It wasn’t quick enough - he couldn’t go quickly enough without risking raising the alarm. He couldn’t afford for the teachers to realise what his own father had sent him. Once he’d made it out of the hall he began to run. The fire was spreading into his whole hand now, and though there were no visible flames the pain he endured was equal to if there were. He set his jaw to keep from screaming in agony and ran faster, flying into his dormitory and through to the adjoining bathroom. He turned the cold tap on full power and plunged his hand beneath it, but he didn’t dare release the letter. He screamed in agony as the first wave of water only seemed to intensify the pain, and bit down on his other forearm to try to keep the sound inside of him. The water provided only minimal relief but after a few minutes he began to bear the pain a little better and forced his breathing to deepen from the shallow pants it had become. The letter was beginning to curl around the edges but Draco nearly wept at the sight of how little they had frayed. He had much more to endure, and he leaned heavily on the sink with his left hand still positioned under the tap, riding out the storm.

*******

Malfoy looked awful. Not that Ginny would say this aloud as it would make it quite clear how unawful she thought he usually looked, and she really wasn’t trying to acknowledge that thought any more than necessary. But she couldn’t help but notice his skin, usually a translucent paleness, now looked grey, and a slight sheen of sweat clung to him. His eyes looked wild - she had jumped back in fright when she had opened the library door earlier to find them boring straight into her. His face was tense and his whole body stiff, it looked painful to even hold that position and she wondered now if pain was indeed what he was experiencing: it would explain his pallor and his slightly laboured breathing.

Much as she wanted to know, he still wasn’t talking to her. She hadn’t exactly known how to initiate conversation either as she didn’t know why he wasn’t talking to her, and furthermore she still felt awkward about how she had felt when he’d touched her yesterday. Trying not to ddwell on it, she concentrated on the work in front of her. Malfoy’s notes, however, had become vaguer when detailing the error with the quills he laid out between them, and his script was slightly shaky. She had also noticed a small pile beginning to build next to him, and she had her suspicions about the issues with these quills, fearing they may be the more complex ones he couldn’t fathom alone. As he reached to move yet another quill to this unlabelled pile she had enough. Her had reached out and grabbed his, and she opened her mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing, and didn’t he realise they couldn’t do this task without at least discussing solutions?

Her words died unuttered on her lips as when she touched his hand she felt a terrible heat and snatched her hand away. She stared at him in confusion as she cradled her hand and wondered at his sudden gasp at her touch and the further lack of colour in his cheeks.

What the hell was that? She thought. “Malfoy?” she tried, “Malfoy what the…” he looked away from her, avoiding her gaze, and she was alarmed further by his laboured breathing escalating to a near pant. He seemed to notice her scrutiny and he clenched his eyes shut and tried to forcibly slow his breathing. “Draco?” she questioned, now really worried, and his eyes shot open to catch with hers. She forgot the now receding pain in her hand as she took in bloodshot sight of his eyes and she swiftly moved into action. Standing, she moved around to his side of the table and knelt beside him. He was still somewhat bent over the table and she took hold of his shoulders and turned him towards her, guessing that force was necessary in this situation.

“Hold out your hand.” she commanded, and mercifully the tone she had inherited from Molly Weasley stood her in good stead as he automatically obeyed. Holding her wand out she circled his hand with it carefully, and muttered “Glacio.” Draco’s panting stopped abruptly but Ginny knew she needed to continue working on his hand before the freezing charm became painful in place of the intense heat he had been feeling. She was therefore dismayed when, what seemed to be only a few seconds later, Malfoy groaned again. Glancing sharply at his face and seeing the dismay etched there also, she carefully reached out to touch his hand. She was upset though not altogether surprised to be met with searing heat and she snatched her hand away. As he went to draw his own hand back she grabbed him by the wrist (which seemed to be a normal temperature). “Don’t move, Draco. Just give me a second.” She considered her options quickly as she held him in place before another spell came to mind. “Sano Estus,” she muttered this time, and again Draco’s face cleared for a moment. This time she touched his hand immediately and felt only the normal warmth you would expect. Pleased that she had healed the heated hand she was about to draw away when the intense heat flooded back suddenly. Ginny was shocked at the swift rate it had returned; whatever spell it was that he was suffering from it wouldn’t be healed with a simple cooling charm, it was somehow still linked to him… That’s it! Ginny thought triumphantly, I need to break the connection. “Aufero Iunctio,” she enunciated clearly circling his hand with her wand once more and then flicking her spell towards it. “Tepesco” she added for good measure, and this time when she felt Draco’s hand it was freshly cooled. She left her hand there for a moment or two, and both of the students watched their hands, anxiously awaiting the return of the spell.

After a few moments, Draco let out a relieved breath, and Ginny looked up at him with an answering smile on her face.

“You…” Draco swallowed nervously. “You stopped it.”

Ginny’s smile grew. “Yeah. I guess I did!” she agreed, feeling slightly giddy from relief.

Suddenly Draco stood, and pulled Ginny up with him by the hand that was still in his. “Thank you,” he said emphatically as he pulled her into a tight embrace. Ginny’s arms automatically circled his waist, and she closed her eyes as he held her tightly. After a few moments he pulled back slightly and bought his arms from around her back to rest on her shoulders as he looked down on her. “I can’t thank you enough,” he said softly, and the sincerity shining in his eyes made their silver depths even more beautiful to Ginny. “I could…” he began, then stopped, pulling his eyes away from hers.

“What?” she asked quickly, unwilling to let him move away as she knew he would if she didn’t distract him first. His eyes flicked back to hers and seemed to harden slightly, as if he had resolved to do something.

“I was going to say, I could kiss you.” He said boldly, his eyes never leaving hers.

Her breath hitched a little, causing her chest to press closer against his, and as she carefully breathed out again her tongue flicked out to wet her lips slightly. Draco seemed surprised by her reaction and she watched as his eyes melted again and flicked to her lips, watching her tongue. He ran his left hand across from her shoulder where it still rested towards her neck and then up behind to cup the base of her head, his fingers tangling into her hair. Ginny was filled with desire as he glanced back up to her eyes, and slowly began to lower his head to hers. As she closed her eyes and titled her head towards him Draco needed to more assent. Their lips met, and Ginny was surprised by how gentle his were on hers as they softly met, then parted slightly only to meet again. When Ginny felt Draco’s tongue touch her lips she parted her own willingly, and their kisses quickly became more passionate and heated. Ginny had the notion that he had been careful at first as he was unsure whether she wanted this, but the thought only made her more enthusiastic to show him she did want it, she wanted him. She took her arms from around his waist and moved them to circle his neck, and felt rewarded when he responded by running his right arm down her back to settle in the small of it and tug her towards him, causing her to moan slightly into his mouth. His other hand became more tangled in her hair and she practically shivered with desire.

Suddenly, he broke from her. She snapped her eyes open to see him glaring to a bookshelf, and in a second she heard what had alerted him too – footsteps. She dropped her arms from him quickly and pushed herself away just as Madam Pince rounded the corner.

“Miss Weasley, Mister Malfoy, what on earth is going on here? I sent your note of dismissal nearly 15 minutes ago and now find you still here, looking as if you’ve just landed from a game of Quidditch.” There was a tense pause. “Would either of you care to explain?”

Ginny glanced awkwardly at Draco. He was smoothing his hair back and casually straightened his tie as he answered the librarian, looking every bit the unfazed Slytherin. “Rogue quill. Kept flying out of our hands and shooting around the place. We only just caught it now,” he drawled in a bored manner.

Madam Pince’s face cleared of any suspicion instantly. “I see. Well, come along now!”

Ginny watched as Malfoy stalked back to the table and swung his satchel bag over one shoulder.

“Miss Weasley?” the librarian prompted, and Draco glanced up at her, only to look quickly away.

“Sorry,” Ginny mumbled, and grabbed her own bag. The students led the way out to the front of the library with the older witch following behind. No one said a word. As Madam Pince retreated behind her desk, Malfoy led the way to the exit. As usual, he opened the door and stepped back with it to let Ginny pass first. As she stepped past Draco she looked up and was suddenly met with the sight of –

“Harry!” He looked up and grinned at her.

“Hey Gin! Thought I’d come and meet you here, so we could, ah, spend a little time together?” he asked in a slightly nervous way, his cheeks pinkening slightly and a hopeful look entering his eyes.

“I…” Ginny glanced back and saw that from Draco’s position he was stood out of Harry’s line of sight, lurking behind the door. He was facing away from her, apparently completely disinterested in the exchange. She wanted to know what he was thinking, had been hoping that they could at least exchange a few words after what had happened but with Harry there… she waited for Draco to turn to look at her…

“Gin?” the moments had dragged by and he hadn’t looked.

“Sure, Harry,” the redhead replied, slight disappoint in her tone. “I’m coming now,” and with that, she left. She glanced round once, after a few moments, and saw the retreating back of a Slytherin, and her thoughts were consumed with what was in his mind rather than focussing on the raven haired boy beside her.

*******

Please review to let me know what you thought of this chapter!

12. Thoughts Swirling

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

I’m a little nervous about how this chapter will go down, so I will try to hurry up with the next one to appease everyone!

*******

Ginny tentatively opened the door to the library. She had been hovering outside for what had probably stretched into several minutes, trying to quell the feelings in her stomach. She was excited – she had practically run the whole way from Griffindor common room – but she was equally nervous, and when she actually reached her destination the apprehension had doubled, hence her pause. Slowly pushing the door open, her heart pounded loudly as she waited to catch sight of his face, as he stood opposite waiting for her.

She let out a large breath she hadn’t realise she had been holding when he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there? Why not? He was always there, even when she hadn’t wanted him to be. And now that she… what? She did want him there? She wanted him everywhere? She’d been looking out for him all day… and now, he was nowhere to be seen. She glanced around her, and even stepped back out into the corridor to look up and down to search for him. It was all to no avail. Sighing heavily she wandered over to the librarian, hoping that perhaps Malfoy had arrived early and gone on ahead…

“Ah, Miss Weasley. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to arrive.” The witch admonished with a stern look.

“Sorry, Madam Pince.” Ginny mumbled.

“Hmm, well you had better get on, Mister Malfoy informed me he is serving detention this evening and therefore won’t be joining you. Whilst I understand this will impede your progress somewhat I would still like you to continue your attempts with the old quills.”

Ginny nodded mutely and set off towards the work station. So. He wasn’t coming. Ginny supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised. But she couldn’t help but wonder, was his absence caused by a desire to avoid her following their kiss, or because he knew she would have a million questions lined up to ask about his hand? One thing Ginny was sure of: that detention was no coincidence.

*******

Detention, yeah right. Draco thought to himself as he lurked around the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It wasn’t yet dark and he had no desire to be spotted by, well, by anyone really. Let alone anyone who might run into the librarian. He was surprised she had accepted his excuse without pressing him for further information, but he had chosen a good time at the end of lunch when people were hurriedly rushing in and out to pick up books for various assignments they had forgotten about.

Huffing slightly, the Slytherin lowered himself to the floor, leaning his back against one of the large dark trunks which surrounded him.

He couldn’t face her today, he just couldn’t. His thoughts had swirled since the previous night, continually considering what she was thinking, and he had come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be anything good. Even if she hadn’t told Potter about the incident with his hand by now (and that was a big if) surely she would only demand to know more information first before she passed it on. But who was he kidding anyway - of course she would have told. Potter’s timely arrival was so perfect it might as well have been pre-arranged. A twinge ran through Draco’s chest but he quenched it quickly. He was sure it hadn’t been pre-arranged – Ginny had seemed entirely surprised to see the boy. She hadn’t seemed overly enthusiastic either, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

Speaking of wishful thinking… Draco hadn’t allowed himself to linger on the memory of their kiss. Not that he didn’t want to - Merlin knew he wanted to very badly, and the youngest Weasley had featured in his dreams last night even more graphically than she had previously.

Considering it now though, Draco thought Ginny had seemed to enjoy the kiss at the time. Scratch that - Draco was certain she had enjoyed it at the time. Her arms running up his body as they moved to circle his neck, the light moan that had escaped her lips between her tongue dancing with his… she had enjoyed it. Maybe as much as Draco himself had. The problem was that with the arrival of Potter, Draco was sure everything would have once again been put in perspective for the redhead. Potter was the man of her dreams, the one she had so obviously pined after for years. He was the good one, the pillar of light and hope for the wizarding world. Compared to that, what would a Weasley see in a Malfoy? A name which meant darkness, and evil. And Draco couldn’t even disagree.

*******

Ginny had not been spending the evening alone in what Madam Pince would have thought to be a very appropriate way. She had fiddled with a few quills half heartedly for a short time, before giving up entirely and instead finding some choice volumes on curses which formed a bond with their host victim. She’d been lucky, the day before, that she had been aware such spells existed, and it had actually been down to her brother Bill that she had known. His work as a curse breaker led to many stories come Christmas time, and Ginny always paid fierce attention. Encouraged by his little sister’s attention, Bill made sure to send her detailed accounts of the new curses they discovered, as well as the spells they discovered to break them. Ginny was unsure what career to embark upon after leaving Hogwarts but her interest had not been feigned in Bill’s work, though she considered that quite a lot of the appeal was in the exotic locations they got to work in.

She was trying to search for the particular curse that had been laid on Draco as she flicked through the books, but Ginny knew it was a wasted effort. Without any information from Draco, she didn’t stand a chance. All she knew was that it had caused a burning sensation which even a freezing charm wouldn’t completely dispel. Sighing, Ginny flicked the tome shut. The truth was, Ginny was concentrating on the curse because she didn’t want to deal with the kiss.

The best kiss she’d ever had, if you wanted to be specific. The whole walk back to Griffindor Tower the previous night Ginny had still felt her blood pumping loudly through her veins. Her lips had tingled and every time Harry had looked at her (which had been often) she’d thought it must be written all over her face. They’d paused when they’d reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and Ginny finally met Harry’s eyes. He’d looked as though he were about to say something, and before he got the chance Ginny smiled brightly and delivered the password, clambering into the relative safety of the crowded common room.

It wasn’t long before she had escaped to her dormitory, and tugging the curtains closed around her four poster she had immediately closed her eyes and replayed the scene in her head. The sheer force of the desire behind that kiss from Draco had taken Ginny completely by surprise. It had been months since her last kiss with Harry, but even with him she had never felt so utterly turned on as she had with Draco. She had wanted his hands on her, when he had pulled her into him she had only wanted to get closer. The thought scared her as much as it excited her.

Now, reflecting on her nervous excitement as she had hurried to the library earlier, Ginny couldn’t help but feel somewhat ashamed. What did she want, or expect from him? And what would it do to everyone she knew if she were to pursue something with Draco? What would it do to her? She was better off just focussing on that curse, and forgetting the kiss. Forgetting the heat between them, forgetting how he had looked at her and made her feel that he was really seeing her.

Well, Ginny thought to herself as the note of dismissal from the librarian arrived in front of her, it works in theory.

*******

Hope you enjoyed it… Let me know what you thought!

13. Brooding Tensions

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

Sorry this chapter has taken me longer than I had hoped to update, but I’d love to hear what you think so please do review!

*******

Draco would never have admitted it but he had put considerable thought into whether he should adopt his usual position opposite the door in wait of Ginny on Friday. In the end he decided he would and simply act as if nothing had happened a few days prior. Besides, if Potter was escorting Ginny now, Draco would love the chance to rub it in his face about the hours they spent alone together.

Not that he deceived himself that anything interesting would happen in those hours now. The Weasley girl was sure to have thoroughly convinced herself of how he had taken advantage of her or some such nonsense, and Draco was sure to never have to opportunity to attack those delectable lips ever again.

He closed his eyes tight shut on the last idea, berating himself internally for punishing himself with the thought. It was just then that the door opposite swung open and his eyes snapped open to pierce the girl entering with his eyes. She looked a little shocked and rocked back a step, a cute blush colouring her features. She looked away quickly and tried to proceed through the door but in her rush ended up seemingly tripping over her own feet. Draco hastily stepped forward as the youngest Weasley flew towards him. Not wanting to deal with an injured female he firmly gripped her by the shoulders mid-fall, and righted her. The colour he was now greeted with was a much brighter shade of red than that which he had previously seen on her and he paused a moment as she steadied herself to look once again on her, remembering how close they had been just two days previously… as her eyes flicked to meet his with curiosity and perhaps a little apprehension he quickly stepped away, breaking from her gaze. He turned on his heel and led the way to the librarian’s desk.

“Ah,” Madam Pince greeted him with a stern look, “I see you have returned Mr Malfoy. I trust you won’t be missing any further sessions due to ill behaviour in class?”

“I shall attempt to keep my… behaviour under control, I assure you Madam Pince.”

The witch raised her eyebrows slightly at this and Draco assumed she was trying to decide whether he was being sincere. His attention, however, was focussed on the girl beside him as he saw her eyes bulge at his words. She looked at him critically but he simply turned to walk towards their work station, trying as he did so to close off the feelings that were turning around inside of him. He was beginning to realise that if the Weasley girl did have any interest in him that would be something he wouldn’t mind at all.

*******

Things were incredibly tense. He hadn’t spoken, so Ginny felt herself unable to think of something to say and now the silence had stretched and grown into an uncomfortable, solid thing. Ginny felt the need to at least clear her throat rising within her and made a tiny noise as she did so. Quiet as it was it still attracted a “look” from Draco and after a moment when he didn’t look away she angrily looked up at him.

“What?” she questioned haughtily. He didn’t answer but instead looked back to the quill in front of him, seeming to be suddenly absorbed in his work again. Ginny huffed angrily, completely fed up. She couldn’t even decide which part she was more annoyed about, the way that he hadn’t grovelled at her feet thanking her continuously for helping to cure him or the fact that he hadn’t assaulted her lips with his own the minute they were alone together, and the mere thought that she might have welcomed that annoyed her even more, especially when it obviously wasn’t going to happen.

She glanced at him again cautiously and as his focus remained on the quill she took a moment to observe him. He looked well again, the pain had cleared completely from his face following their last… encounter. But he certainly looked different to how she remembered him from previous years. Perhaps it was just the change in his personality which was fooling her eyes but she felt that his face had lost a lot of the previous permanent sneer. He seemed older for it somehow, as if he had matured. His eyes were piercing but less cruel, more thoughtful and considering as he keenly observed the world around him. And he was beautiful.

“Seen something you like, Weasley?” His voice shook her from her reverie and she fought down the blush that threatened to rise at being caught out admiring him.

“You wish, Malfoy,” she said slightly maliciously and returned to her work.

*******

Ouch, Malfoy thought to himself. The sting he had felt at her words was uncomfortable.

Thinking about it logically Draco knew he was putting himself in a difficult situation. The library had become one of the very few places he had felt he could begin to relax in the castle. Strange that he would consider that in the presence of a Weasley but nevertheless it had become true. He had anticipated their hours working together to be filled with spiteful comments from her and searching interrogations. Instead she had been… restful. She’d let him be. Then they’d started to share food, discuss possible magical dilemmas, joke, laugh... maybe even flirt a little. He saw the library as a haven compared to the rest of the castle. If things went wrong here it would be typical.

“Excuse me?” Draco looked up in confusion only to be greeted with a slight scowl from the girl opposite him.

“What?”

“Did you just say typical?” she asked haughtily.

Ah. He was talking to himself. So madness really had set in.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“Sorry?” the incredulous reply came.

“Yeah.” He looked up at her again. “Sorry. I wasn’t talking to you. I was just thinking about something else, ok? So I’m sorry if I disturbed you.” Draco turned back to the quill he was mulling over, hearing Ginny splutter incoherently opposite him. She finally seemed to find her voice.

“Excuse me, was that a Malfoy apologising? You must be a disgrace to the family name.” she sneered.

Draco snapped, and stood sharply. He vaguely noticed that the sneer had slipped completely off her face as the red head looked up at him in some shock as he spoke.

“You think that is what makes me a disgrace to the family name, Weasley?” his voice was quiet but it contained pure fury. “You have no idea. Not one single fucking idea about the many and various ways in which I have disgraced the family name, and even less of an idea of how that name has disgraced me.” with that he turned on his heel and stalked swiftly away.

He dodged in and out between the bookshelves in an attempt to avoid the librarian, passing her desk from a distance and circling round to exit the library from the other side. Draco was unpleasantly surprised to find the corridors milling with people as he exited the library, somehow he had been expecting it to be full night – black to suit his mood – and he wanted somewhere to lurk in solitude.

Instead he had to keep his head low and stalk through the rest of the students as if he had a purpose, as if he had somewhere to be. He felt as though he were in physical pain, but could not even identify the thoughts and emotions that ripped through him clearly. He was angry, he knew that much, and he tried to focus on that so as to not let the other feelings overwhelm him. But as he did so he realised it was the bare minimum of his anger that was reserved for Ginny Weasley. Instead he discovered afresh the anger which he held in store for everyone else, and that was a difficult road to go down, especially when so much of the supply was reserved for anger at himself.

Draco looked up to realise he was finally, mercifully, in a deserted corridor. Looking around speculatively his eyes alighted on a statue of a hump-backed one-eyed witch. He hesitantly approached the witch, eyes darting from side to side checking all the while that no one was watching. When he was certain the coast was clear he stepped behind the statue and tapped the hump with his wand, whispering “Dissendium”. Draco watched as the hump opened into a hole which he could pull himself into, and he slid down a smooth stone passage before coming to a halt as the ground evened out and appeared to give way to earth. His wand still in hand Draco muttered “Lumos” and shone his wand up the path he had just gone. He was correct in his assessment of a smooth stone slope, and as he shone the light around him he noticed he was in a long tunnel. He presumed it led into Hogsmeade and was currently in no mood for exploring, so he simply lowered himself to the ground, leaning his back against the cool earth.

He had known there was a passage here since some time in his third year, having rounded the corner to the corridor once to see a pair of feet disappearing inside. By the time he had reached the statue the hole was closed, but Draco had kept his eyes and ears open and had once been about to round the corner to the corridor when he heard a rustling. It was a Saturday and most of the student body was at Hogsmeade – the only 3rd year he could think of who wasn’t there was Potter. Draco’s somewhat unhealthy obsession with finding dirt on the other boy had paid off as he lingered around the corner and peeked into the corridor to see a wand appear from nowhere and tap the witch’s hump as an all too familiar voice whispered “Dissendium”. By now the young Draco was convinced that Potter had mastered Disillusionment Charms which angered as much as it astonished him, and he had intended to use this evidence of Potter’s trespassing as the ultimate pay back for all of the raven-haired boy’s taunts (and mere existence). Young Draco wasn’t stupid though, he wanted to make sure he plumbed the depths of this secret himself before he reported Potter’s exploitation of it, and so he had bided his time.

Of course the time never came, and though Draco’s malicious thoughts often turned to the secret passage it was never quite the right moment, and so it was left, half forgotten.

Draco turned these thoughts over in his head as he sat in the semi darkness. He was glad now that he hadn’t reported it because its secret meant that Draco could at least have somewhere to sit uninterrupted and safe. He rested his elbows on his knees drawn up in front of him, and closed his eyes.

He tried once more to spark his anger at Ginny, telling himself the girl had no right to talk to him that way… but his anger simply lashed back at him, asking him what right he had ever had to behave in his previous Malfoy-esque attitude. He couldn’t believe now that he had ever thought himself and his family above such people as Ginny Weasley. She was smart and loyal and good. What was he? He’d been stupid to ever consider his father’s way was the only way, he’d been child to ever think that was the right way to live. But he had grown up – had been forced to. He had seen, and experienced and done things which he would never – could never – forget. And he would forever feel disgraced, and be seen as a disgrace.

Draco sat alone and cold in the dark and wondered whether there was anything out there worth resurfacing for.

14. Finding Relief

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

We are now on Monday in case you’ve lost track – no weekend chapters this time around. Thank you to everyone who reads this story, and extra thanks to those who review. I know I don’t update often enough but I spend a lot of time thinking about how the story will progress so don’t think I’ve given up! Knowing there are people reading and (hopefully) enjoying makes me determined to continue!

*******

A cloud of red hair burst through the door opposite Draco, and he raised his eyebrow slightly at the sight of the witch before him.

“Dra-“ she began, then her mouth twisted unhappily and she started again “Malfoy,” her voice wobbled. “Please... PLEASE do the talking with Pince?”

He took in her bedraggled appearance, her red rimmed eyes which shone brightly with unshed tears, and her slightly quivering chin. He nodded curtly and she sped off past him.

Ambling over to the head librarian he was glad to see her back was turned, maybe she hadn't noticed...

“Mr Malfoy,” she greeted, “is there any particular reason why Miss Weasley saw fit to pass me without acknowledging my existence?”

So much for that hope then.

“She... Thought she might have left her best quill here. On Friday.”

“Her best quill?” The librarian looked nonplussed.

“Yes, her best quill. She wanted to run and check if she’d left it where she thought she had before we started work. Didn't want it to get mixed up with all the ones we’re trying to fix and getting chucked.”

“Indeed?”

Draco shrugged, it wouldn’t do to look or sound overly interested and his tactic paid off as the librarian dismissed him to pass on the message that they would continue with quills today.

As he rounded the corner Draco’s growing curiosity was quenched at the sight before him. Weasley had her head on her arms resting a top the desk that usually sat between them. He could tell from the shakes that wracked her body that she was crying. He approached cautiously and hovered at the edge of the desk.

“Weasley?” He questioned softly, hesitantly. She didn’t seem to hear him, or if she did she wasn’t acknowledging it. Draco was at a loss. Crying girls were not something he was used to dealing with. Used to witnessing, sure, but he had never before felt the need to interfere, let alone comfort them. The closest he had come had been a time when a girl had burst into tears as she witnessed her best friend wrestle tongues with him in a heated make out session. Blaise had made some quip and Draco had tossed a sin filled smile at his friend along with a wink that had promised mischief. He’d followed the girl, leaving her friend behind as a completed conquest. Finding the weeping girl in a deserted classroom nearby he had carefully closed the door behind him and approached her as if he were a tiger stalking its prey. She had initially pushed him away, told him she hated him… but it only took a few gentle words, a few careful kisses to her tears before she succumbed to him too. He seemed to recall she had been straddling him on a table when Blaise had entered and let out a short laugh at the sight, mentioning something about killing two birds with one stone and sending the girl running, a fresh set of tears streaming down her face as she realised she had been used.

Draco pushed the thought to one side, his face twisting with shame as he remembered the callous occasion, whilst he equally tried to quench his desire to comfort Ginny with heated kisses too.

She was still crying and he acknowledged that it upset him to see her this way, and worried him. He stepped carefully closer.

“Ginny?” he tried again, but this only seemed to make her cry harder if anything. He moved to her properly now, and crouched in front of her, trying to look up in to her face. He reached out, unsure and tentative, and rested his hand on her shoulder.

“Ginny. What’s wrong? Are you… has someone hurt you?” His heart seemed to twist inside him at the thought and his anger blossomed inside him, but he was relieved to see a tiny shake of her head.

“Have you had some bad news?” Again a tiny shake of her head but a fresh sob wracked her body.

“Have you flunked a test? Because whatever Granger tells you I assure you that isn’t actually the end of the world?” This time a slight gulping laugh seemed to escape her, and after a moment she took a breath and very quietly said: “no.”

“Well that’s good I guess because even if it isn’t the end of the world it might mean the end of your friendship with Granger and you do seem pretty fond of her for some reason.”

Draco was surprised to see Ginny shake her head at this and mutter “not such much anymore.” He was perplexed.

“Ginny… has Granger said something? To upset you?”

Finally Ginny raised her head from her arms and lifted her hands to wipe her face.

“Her… and everyone else.” She said bitterly, still not meeting his eyes as she dropped her hands to her lap and her face appeared the mask of unhappiness.

There was an awkward pause.

“Do you want to… talk about it?”

Ginny scoffed. “Yeah right. Like you care.”

Draco looked up at her, his eyes never leaving her face. He ran his hand slowly down from her shoulder to her elbow, and she finally met his eyes.

“I’m here.” Was all he said.

Ginny was captivated by his eyes. They seemed like deep silver pools, which seemed to say more than his words.

“I –” she blushed and looked away. “It’s stupid.” Draco didn’t move, and she could still feel the warmth on his hand on her elbow. She looked at him again and his clear eyes seemed to jerk the words out of her.

“Have you ever had it where people expect something of you… for no good reason? They presume something or everything about your nature and your wants, based on no evidence? Without even asking what you might want? Without even taking the time to consider you might not be who your parents are?” Ginny suddenly realised what she’d said when Draco’s eyes broke from her own. There was a tense silence and Ginny was just beginning to wonder how she could fill it when Draco spoke.

“Yes.” He said shortly.

“Yes?” his eyes flicked back to hers and held them, seeming to ask why she was surprised.

“Yes. I have had that.” His words were harsh, almost daring her to ask… “What are people presuming about you?” his question beat her to the punch.

“Harry.” She answered the question unthinkingly, and saw Draco’s eyes harden. His grip on her elbow tightened.

“Potter?” she didn’t speak. “And what do they presume about you and Potter?” Draco seemed angry, his eyes boring into hers, defiantly seeking an answer. Was he jealous?

“That I want him.” Ginny’s words were barely above a whisper as she looked down at Draco, felt his tight, warm grip on her elbow, felt her pulse quicken at his looks. He seemed to be probing her now, his eyes still hard as they searched her out. She didn’t look away as the silence stretched once more. He rocked forwards from his crouch, touching his knees to the ground and then kneeling up, bringing his face up, and closer to hers. His left hand stayed at her elbow and he slowly brought his right hand up to sweep some hair back of her face and behind her ear. His hand rested there, fingers in her hair and palm laid across her cheek. Ginny felt her heart beating hard in her chest as his face stopped, so close to hers. His features were delectable, his beauty turning her on. She licked her lips.

“And what do you want, Ginny?” he whispered. She felt his breath on her face, she was finding it hard to breathe but her eyes flicked to his lips then back to his eyes. She knew he had noticed, knew that he knew, but he wasn’t making any move. His hands were still, resting at her elbow, her cheek, and he made no move. Ginny leaned her head slightly forwards, her gaze locked with his. They were so close there was hardly any distance to close. He looked almost worried, beneath the hard look in his eyes. Her eyes flicked once more to his lips, and he didn’t move away as she leaned carefully into him, closing her eyes as her lips touched his. He still didn’t move and she broke their contact fleetingly only to kiss him again. Her lips trembled as they lingered on his and she carefully flicked out her tongue to touch his lips before she closed her kiss again. He moved slightly into her next one, starting to greet the deep press of her lips, and she touched his with her tongue once more. As her kisses continued they gradually coaxed more of a response from him, and eventually he met her tongue with his own. Ginny responded enthusiastically and was surprised when Draco broke their kiss. He was breathing heavily, and he untangled his right hand from her hair to let it drop at his side as he looked away from her.

“Draco?” Ginny questioned softly, but he didn’t look up. She reached out her right hand, and carefully laid it across his cheek. “Draco.” He looked at her. He looked so vulnerable, scared almost, and Ginny wanted to reassure him. “Kiss me.” He looked at her doubtfully for a moment and she could see that he was fighting some sort of internal battle. She slid her hand down from his face to rest at his neck. “I want you to kiss me.” she whispered. It was all he needed. His arms snatched out to her waist and grabbed her, practically dragging her off the chair to kneel in front of him. He captured her lips and kissed her fiercely as he pulled her body into his, and Ginny could feel the heat that flooded to her core as she was turned on so deliciously by the boy in front of her. Eventually his kisses stopped and he reached up to her face to once more brush the hair away from her.

“We’d better fix some quills,” he said enigmatically, and Ginny couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the anti-climax.

*******

“We’re dismissed.” Draco said as he saw the usual note flying towards them. They packed up, suddenly awkward after their enjoyable evening of banter and work. Draco finished first, as usual, and lingered as Ginny put the last few things in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She looked up at him, a blush already colouring her face.

“So.” She said.

“So.” He replied.

There was a pause before Ginny stepped close to him and leaned up to kiss him on the lips.

“Bye!” she said with a cheeky grin as she broke from him and sped off. Draco smiled, and quietly left the library, already looking forward to returning there tomorrow.

15. Mixed Emotions

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.

16. Voiced Opinions

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

Once again I have to apologise for not updating quicker, however this time I have a semi-valid excuse – I was on holiday! I will hopefully get the next chapter up sooner as this one is a little less exciting than the last, but I really hope you enjoy it!

Also thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it’s honestly so great to hear from you! So I really hope I continue to make the story enjoyable for you, please let me know what you think :)

*******

“I’ve been told to keep my eye on you.” Draco’s breakfast was rudely interrupted on Saturday morning.

“Excuse me?” he asked his fellow Slytherin with some measure of disdain.

“Well, I’ve been told to report back at any rate,” the dark skinned boy explained as he lowered himself into the seat opposite Malfoy.

“Fuck.” Draco dropped his fork. After a moment he composed himself. “How bad is it?”

Zabini shrugged. “Just a bit of “Narcissa hasn’t heard much from Draco and would be grateful for any news…” You know what my mother’s like, she doesn’t like to play your father’s games but she can’t ignore your parents forever.”

Draco nodded. In polite society Ms Zabini would be unable to ignore the request of a “friend”, even if that “friend” happened to be someone she hated.

Draco braced himself before asking the next question. “And what are you going to say?”

Zabini shrugged again, it was a graceful movement in his long body, and Draco was sure he was the only guy whose shrug girls swooned over. “A bit of this and a bit of that. That you’ve been busy studying. That we’ve all got these damn duties taking up our time now. That I’ve spent no time with you but that as it’s the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year we’ll be conforming to tradition and going and getting fucked.” Draco raised his eyebrow slightly. “Well, alright I might not tell mother that part. Sound like a plan anyway?”

Draco glanced behind Blaise at that point to see that Ginny was sat next to Potter, and he was smiling winningly at her.

“Why not?” he grunted and led the way back to the dormitory to prepare for the day ahead.

*******

Spending time with Blaise could be… good. Draco didn’t know how to describe it. The two of them could have been bosom buddies. They got on well and were both intellectual, attractive and admired by many. The reason their friendship had never become something to rival the Golden Trio’s was purely that they both preferred to work alone. It was understood that Crabbe and Goyle didn’t qualify in that reckoning.

The time that they did spend together was enjoyable, and the annual binge in Hogsmeade was something the boys had indulged in since fourth year, bypassing the laws regarding underage consumption of Firewhiskey by barely veiled threats about what their families might have to say if their darling children were refused anything.

“How bad has it been?” Blaise asked when they'd both had enough drinks to take the edge off. Take the edge off what exactly Draco couldn't quite say, as it felt like he had a whole damn list of things he could do with the edges being taken off of. He had even less of a clue what edges Zabini needed dulling but as long as they kept up with each other their sharpness should be at equal levels and that was the main thing – or at least it was to Draco’s slightly inebriated mind.

“Bad.” Draco replied, knocking back another shot of Firewhiskey. He winced slightly at the burn, and took a swig of Butterbeer to shake the taste.

“How bad?”

“Worse than I ever thought possible.”

Zabini nodded. There were things that happened in some pureblood families that weren’t discussed. Abuse, both physical and mental, were included in that list and Blaise knew Draco had never thought his parents capable of inflicting either upon him. Draco had learned a lot since then. For him to make such a statement though it must have been worse over the summer than ever before. Blaise poured Draco another shot in sympathy, before recounting a detailed story of a sexual encounter with a half Veela which he had experienced over the summer in an effort to lighten the mood.

*******

The four of them entered the Three Broomsticks and as the boys went off to fetch the Butterbeers Ginny followed Hermione to find a table. Unfortunately as she sat down she realised the table the brunette had chosen gave Ginny the perfect view of two of Slytherin’s finest. They were holed up in a corner and Ginny’s table was angled so that the others in her party would probably not notice the addition of the two lurking students, a fact which Ginny could only be grateful for as she couldn’t bear to hear Harry’s ridiculous speculations of what Draco was doing. However, it did mean she had to watch exactly what he was doing, and as she looked she saw both boys take a shot of Firewhiskey before flushing it down with Butterbeer. The bottle of Firewhiskey was on their table and they obviously had no intention of stopping any time soon. What piqued her curiously the most though was how serious they both looked, their faces showing grim shadows.

Harry placed a Butterbeer in front of her and slipped into the seat next to her.

“Thanks, Harry,” she smiled at him, “you really didn't have to though you know, I don't expect you to pay.” He waved her off with a smile.

As they turned to converse with Hermione and Ron, Ginny tried to keep her eyes and thoughts from straying to the blond in the corner. This proved difficult at the point when Zabini stood up, thrusting his hips whilst holding his arms out in front of him. It was obvious what the discussion involved and Ginny looked glumly on as Draco burst out laughing in response to whatever tale the other boy was telling. If that wasn’t cause enough for Ginny’s mood to sink, the Slytherin’s activities had been enough to attract the attention of the Trio, and they all set about insulting the slightly inebriated students in various ways. Ron’s disparaging comment “alcoholics” was not even said in a voice attempting subtlety, and it was that which finally raised the pair’s attention to their audience. After sending matching glares of condescension, Blaise turned to continue with his conversation, but Draco’s eyes slid to Ginny’s. He obviously hadn’t previously noticed her and for a moment it was as if he was unable to look away... Until he turned back to their table and poured himself and Blaise another shot which he promptly tossed back.

Ginny looked away, more upset than she would like to admit by their antics. It wasn’t long before the boys rose, still somehow steady on their feet, and made their way to pass the Griffindors’ table. Despite Ginny’s silent wishes the Trio did not let them pass unnoticed.

“What do you think you’re doing Malfoy?” Harry asked, his voice seething with anger. The Slytherins paused in their steps and turned to the table.

“What do you think it looks like he’s doing, Potter?” It was Blaise who had answered, and his voice was nothing short of politely curious.

“You aren’t supposed to get drunk in Hogsmeade, it’s prohibited.” Hermione piped up.

The two boys looked completely at their ease. If it weren’t for the fact that the Trio were sat up in their chairs as if they would leap out of them at any moment it would look like it was a normal chat between schoolmates. The Slytherins were both standing casually, hands in their pockets. Blaise leaned back onto a supporting pillar behind him as Draco yawned.

Blaise looked at Hermione and smiled. “That’s true, Granger. But we’re of age now, so excuse us if it doesn’t leave us trembling in our boots.” He flicked a smirk at Draco, who smiled and looked in the opposite direction, completely uninterested.

“Malfoy.” Harry started again. “I was talking to you. What’s the matter? Now Crabbe and Goyle have come to their senses and stopped hanging around with you you’ve hired Zabini as your mouth piece?”

The Slytherins’ attitudes changed in an instant. Both suddenly stood straight, arms loose by their sides, looking as if they were ready to pounce.

“I wouldn’t make quick comparisons between Goyle and Zabini if I were you Potter. Unless it’s about physical appearance, in which case I wouldn’t disagree with you.”

Zabini snorted indignantly, breaking the tension. “You wish Malfoy. If it weren’t for me you’d be unrivalled, but unfortunately I’m undoubtedly the best looking guy in school.”

Hermione scoffed.

“What’s up Granger? Don’t agree?” Blaise asked with a winning smile.

“Of course not. As if either of you could be considered the best looking in the school.”

Blaise turned to Ginny, completely unfazed. “What about you Weaslette? What do you say?” There was a tense silence around the table as everyone waited for her answer.

“You’re both pretty hot.” She finally admitted. Blaise’s face broke out into a triumphant grin whilst Hermione looked aghast and Ron and Harry looked furious. It was at Draco that Ginny was looking however when she added: “shame looks aren’t everything though.”

Zabini laughed. “I think we’ve been snubbed Draco. Well we could always try and convince you Weaslette. Why don’t you come with us, we’ll buy you a drink and try to persuade you of our sterling personalities.”

“I don't need anyone to buy my drinks for me Zabini.”

“Really? Who bought that one then?” Zabini asked, a smooth grin adorning his face. There was a tense silence as Ginny felt Draco’s eyes on her. She looked away.

“I did.” Harry spoke up.

“What a surprise.”

“Yeah so if she’s accepting a drink from a guy like me what on earth makes you think she’d drink anything you touched Zabini?”

“Wishful thinking. Maybe in my dreams...”

Ron shot up out of his chair. “You dare have any dreams about my little sister and I swear I’ll-” Harry was on his feet too, Hermione was trying to hold Ron back, Blaise was laughing.

“Come on, Blaise,” Malfoy interrupted. “We’re obviously not welcome here.” And with that they moved away leaving Ginny to face the wrath of the Trio and listen to yet more complaints about Slytherins.

*******

It was late by the time Draco left Hogsmeade, leaving Zabini charming a witch who was probably 5 years his elder. Draco had surreptitiously indicated that he was leaving and Blaise acknowledged the message without a pause in his flirting. It wasn’t the first time the boys had parted ways before returning to the castle, and whilst Blaise seemed to understand that Draco had possibly moved past the urge to conquer every good looking witch in sight that gave Blaise no cause to consider that he should do the same. If anything it meant there were more witches available for him to indulge in.

As Draco approached the gates to the castle he ambled over to one side of it. Taking his wand in hand he thrust it forwards, seemingly making it disappear into the wall. After a moment, the thick wall parted, much like the wall to Diagon Alley did to permit entrance from the Leaky Cauldron, and Draco slipped through. They had been lucky one night a few years ago when they had returned to the castle after curfew and found the gates locked and their entrance prohibited. They’d just been settling down under a tree, resigned to their fate of a night outdoors after over an hour of trying to break in, when Professor Flitwick had appeared. It was then that they saw the wand-plunge occur, and a small gap open for the tiny teacher to enter through. It was a good job they had been a combination of drunk, young, and damnably cold otherwise they might never have considered mimicking Flitwick’s actions (after all, who knew what might happen). As it was it took them half an hour to find the exact spot, and a few fumbled attempts before they realised each needed to do the deed separately as the space which appeared was contoured to the wand bearers’ physical size, and sections of wall began to close in behind them as soon as they had passed. Draco had eventually found reference to the passage in Hogwarts: A History. It appeared that one former headmaster had been so paranoid about the possibility of the school being overrun by doppelgangers that all students had to submit to the “test of the gate” in order to return to the castle. The magic was clever and complex - the wand had to have allegiance with the hand that held it, and both wand and hand must belong to a current student or teacher of the school. If any student were suspended or not expected at the school the gate would also know. It was a great piece of magic that could sustain a test with ever changing subjects and not allow former students to re-enter.

As these thoughts and memories were running through Draco’s head he was aware he was only considering them in order to keep his mind off a certain red head, but as he meandered through the castle corridors on his way back to the dormitory he couldn’t continue to tear his mind from the memory of her. Shame looks aren’t everything she’d said. He couldn’t even fathom the extent of what she meant by that, but he guessed it probably had something to do with wanting to be with someone who wasn’t constantly switching from the extreme of attacking you with their mouth to then trying to brush you off or ignore you. Draco groaned as this thought popped up just when his head hit the pillow in his four poster bed, knowing that reminiscing on the feel of her sweet mouth under his wouldn’t help him resist the dreams that brought her to him as he slept.

The dreams were their own kind of torture, because he didn’t resist her there. They just made waking up all the more painful.

17. Five Days of Fuming

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

I have not abandoned this story! I am very sorry to those readers out there who have been kept waiting, all I can say is that Real Life has been busier than ever before and although I have thought about this fic loads, I haven’t been writing it. I really hope you’ll forgive me and give this chapter a read… Please?!

*******

Ginny had succeeded in completing no work whatsoever on Saturday night due to her thoughts constantly straying to a certain boy, and so when she awoke on Sunday morning (after a rather long lie in) she decided to commit herself to a day of work. She meaningfully strode to the kitchens to get some brunch, and headed straight back up to the Griffindor common room. She was perfectly aware that she was avoiding the Great Hall to deny herself the temptation of glancing over to the Slytherin table, but she reasoned with herself that going to the kitchens would save time in any case. She was rather uncommunicative throughout the day, although thankfully being friends with Hermione paid off in this instance as Hermione praised her for being so absorbed in her work.

That night Ginny’s stomach clenched uncomfortably as she tried to come up with excuses to get her transferred out of her library duties for the rest of the term. She fell asleep troubled, and awoke on Monday in no better mood despite having dreamt of kissing a beautiful blond boy all night.

*******

He wasn’t waiting for her, and she found herself feeling relieved. She was just approaching Madam Pince’s desk and wondering where he was lurking when he appeared from amongst the bookshelves opposite the librarian’s desk. Obviously he still hadn’t managed to kick the habit of lurking completely then.

“Miss Weasley, Mr Malfoy,” The librarian greeted with a nod. “This week I would like you to resume your work copying out the texts you started on. I thought you would appreciate a break from the monotony of the quill work.” When neither of the students said anything the witch frowned slightly before dismissing them.

It was odd to stop at the first desk again after having continued to the quill area for so long. As they took their seats Ginny reflected that it was probably a good thing they were back on the texts, she didn’t fancy having to unstick Draco from a rogue quill again only to be reminded of how she had previous dealt with the problem…

She quickly seated herself and pulled the book she was writing in towards her. Thankfully Draco took his queue and pulled the Shakespeare book towards him, apparently not willing to argue about who began the dictating. As he began to speak Ginny dutifully wrote down everything he said, and realised that she was actually grateful for the fact that they were back on this task. Although it meant that she had no choice but to listen to him, it at least meant that there was no room for any discussion at their table. Whereas if they had been working on the quills the silence and awkwardness would have stretched and stewed, with this task they had no chance of considering what they might say to each other because the only acceptable thing to hear was the lines the great playwright had written, and Ginny’s quill scratching along in response.

The evening was not without its awkward moments though, such as the times they bumped elbows, or the moment when Ginny realised she could smell Draco’s seductive scent drifting towards her, tantalisingly tempting her to lean into him. If he felt any such awkwardness she could not tell, and tried not to guess. Ginny’s last hopes had been dashed on Saturday when he had looked at her with a complete lack of interest or even the usual intensity she was used to. She had tried to harden her heart to it, but she couldn’t completely ignore the disappointment that had plagued her. At least she had remained aloof in front of him, making it plain that the man she had been interested in was not the one who everyone else saw. She wouldn’t deny Draco’s physical appearance was appealing – what was the point when he knew she had been drawn to him? – but she would preserve her dignity in making it plain that she was not the kind of girl who persisted just because of that quality. If Draco had had any desire to prove his depth to her it had not shown in the look he had given her – one of bored nonchalance. She frowned as these thoughts ran through her head and suddenly the quill she was writing with snapped under the pressure she was exerting on it.

“Fuck!” she threw it down in annoyance, and reached down to begin fumbling through her bag for her wand.

“Reparo,” she heard him mutter. “Here.”

She turned back to him to see him holding the repaired quill out to her, his expression betraying nothing. If anything it angered her more. She stood abruptly.

“I don’t need your help, Malfoy,” she shot at him venomously, fighting the temptation to snatch the quill from him and re-break it. Fortunately she was spared as she was distracted by the arrival of the dismissal note from Madam Pince, and grabbing her bag she swept away from the library trying to convince herself that she didn’t care about him and trying to ignore the niggling question that asked if she didn’t care, then why was she so angry?

*******

Monday had been horrific, but Draco held no high hopes for Tuesday being any better. Sure enough he wasn’t wrong. He didn’t want Ginny to know he was purposefully waiting for her so just before she was due to arrive he left his extra studying and exited the library, only to wait a little further down the corridor and peer out of a broom closet nearby, looking up the way the Griffindor would appear from. She looked thoroughly miserable as she approached, he noted, and tried to ignore the tug in his chest at seeing her feeling this way. Part of him began to wonder if it was down to him, whilst another part scoffed at the thought.

The truth was that he had no idea what had happened with him and Ginny. They had gone from enemies, to reluctant work partners, to something approaching amiable acquaintances, to sudden fervent kissing, apparently back to enemies. Draco understood his reasoning for it - he told himself every day why he should push her away. He would get hurt; she wouldn’t want him for long. He couldn’t bear to have something as precious as Ginny in his now desolate life only to lose her. It could be a trick, a ploy from Potter. If it wasn’t, if she truly wanted him… that was almost worse. If the truth came out Ginny might be made to suffer at the hands of experts in cruelty for her daring to involve herself with a Malfoy. Draco was hardly a stranger to suffering, but he did not relish the thought of more, and every way he looked at the situation he would suffer from somebody’s hands.

But he had no idea what she was thinking. She had kissed him, had seemed to want him so much… it made him hard just thinking about it. She had refused his rebuttals and stubbornly seduced him… until she hadn’t. And then there had been Saturday. And yesterday she had seemed on the verge of killing him.

None of that – the rationalisations or the ponderings – stopped him from wanting to comfort her. From wanting to wipe the look of misery from her face, from wanting to kiss her and immerse himself in her and only her…

She stopped outside the library and took in a deep breath, schooling her expression before entering. He waited a few moments before slipping in after her, knowing he would spend the evening listening to her voice grind out words she wished she didn’t have to utter to him.

*******

Wednesday was just as bad. Draco certainly didn’t think Ginny had appreciated him spouting Shakespeare, especially as they had encountered an interlude of sonnets. He thought he heard her make some sort of noise as he read Sonnet 8, especially the lines “Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly, Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy?”. But maybe he was imagining things. Maybe the old bard was getting to him.

*******

“You seem distracted, Ginny.” Luna observed quietly on Thursday as the Ravenclaws and Griffindors trudged back to the castle following their Herbology lesson in the greenhouses.

Ginny looked up at her friend with a slight, apologetic smile on her face. “Sorry, Luna. I’m just tired… these bloody extra duties don’t help.” She added irritably kicking a stone out in front of her and narrowly avoiding the ankles of another student.

Luna eyed her friend thoughtfully. Ginny was no stranger to hard work, and had seemed happy with her allocation to the library. Last week she had been bouncing around beaming but the past few days she had seemed somewhat… flat.

“I have to go Ginny, I have Divination next and you know how long it takes to get up there. I’ll see you in History of Magic tomorrow. I think Professor Binns will be very pleased with my parchment on the experimental wand work used in the Battle of Furgin.”

“The Battle of… oh crap! I was focusing so hard on my other assignments on Sunday I completely forgot that one and I’m supposed to have practised my Cheering Charms for tomorrow and they’re awful. Bloody fucking library duties in my way again!”

Luna raised her eyebrows slightly but decided to refrain from berating her friend, who had already sped off grumbling.

When Ginny approached Madam Pince’s desk that evening she was too preoccupied with her focus on the librarian to notice Malfoy appear behind her, quiet as a ghost.

“Madam Pince?”

“Yes you may continue with the texts Miss Weasley, carry on.”

“Um I was actually… I was going to ask if there would be any chance of um… Well the thing is I forgot I had an extra assignment in for tomorrow.” Ginny cringed as the librarians piercing gaze suddenly focused upon her.

“And?”

“I was just wondering if by any chance there might be a possibility of me potentially not participating in my library duties tonight please?” Ginny said in a rush. She knew her answer as soon as the librarians look hardened.

“Miss Weasley, do you not think time management is a valuable lesson to learn during your school years?”

“Y-yes, Madam Pince, I only-”

“And are you under the impression that throughout your life you will only have to deal with one task at a time all neatly lined up and never overlapping?”

“No of course not I just-”

“In that case I’m sure you can understand that I haven’t the least sympathy. Carry on.” The witch turned her back abruptly leaving Ginny to traipse to the desk in the duty area and collapse into her chair. It was only then that she realised Malfoy had been following her the whole time, her sudden shock at seeing him causing her to snap out violently at him:

“I can see why they call you the Prince of Slytherin Malfoy, slithering about like a snake.”

He ignored her as he carefully took his seat. She yanked the Magical Creatures book towards her irritably when suddenly Malfoy spoke.

“Look.” He began, and when she did indeed look at him she noticed that he looked rather apprehensive about having spoken, as if afraid she might bite his head off. Not that he’d be wrong there Ginny thought irritably. “Why don’t you write your assignment now?”

Ginny stared at him blankly for a moment before responding as if she were talking to a complete idiot: “Ummm because we are doing library duties Malfoy. That’s what we’re here for, remember? And Pince just told me I couldn’t duck out.”

“I know, I mean- I meant… why don’t you just write it now? I can just copy the book, it’s my turn to do the writing anyway and it will obviously be slower than if you were reading it out and I was copying it down but I doubt she’ll notice, as long as something extra gets written.”

Ginny frowned at him for a moment, confused. “Why would you do that?”

He looked at her then, and as he caught her eye his careful mask seemed to fall once more. “Because I don’t want you to be unhappy,” he said, apparently without considering his words as he quickly flushed a light pink when he realised what he had said, and looked away again. Ginny had blushed too, but she didn’t look away.

“Yeah, right.”

“Look,” he said looking back at her after a moment, the detachment back in his eyes. “I don’t want to argue about this. Either go do your work or don’t. I’m just saying you might as well, you can work round by the quills and obviously get all the books you need… but it’s up to you.” He held her gaze for a moment longer and when she refused to look away he reached out and tugged lightly on the book she held. She frowned and let go of the book – and her hold on Draco’s eyes – knowing she wouldn’t get a better offer than this.

A few hours passed and Ginny was just reaching a point where she thought she could add a concluding paragraph and declare the work finished when she noticed Draco appear from behind the bookshelf which had divided them.

“We’re dismissed.” He said simply, and turned to leave.

“Wait, Malfoy,” Ginny called, standing up. He turned back warily. “Thanks.” She said simply, and somewhat awkwardly.

“Just don’t make a habit of it,” he said neutrally, not meeting her eye.

“Why, miss me?” She asked, more out of cheeky habit than anything else.

Suddenly his eyes locked with hers again, just for a moment, and the renewed intensity of his gaze made her heart thump loudly, as he briskly turned and walked away, making no reply.

18. Troubling Times Gone By

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

Thank you to all 7 reviewers of the last chapter! Very fitting number there ;) also thank you to the anonymous reviewer who pointed out my misspelling of Gryffindor, I was ashamed! Does anyone know what went wrong with Portkey the other day (it may have been yesterday, or the day before… I’ve lost track slightly :S) it seemed to have gone down? Or was that just me? Let me know if you know what happened. If Portkey should disappear (which I REALLY REALLY hope it doesn’t) I will post this story somewhere else to carry it on, so search the Draco/Ginny fanfiction world and hopefully I’ll get it out there somehow. Obviously I’m sincerely hoping Portkey doesn’t go anywhere though! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Draco reveals some of the unpleasantness he has had to live with, so there’s your warning.

*******

Friday. Ginny was anxious about working in the library again. Draco had shown his kind side again last night, and whilst she had initially decided not to get too wound up over it and to simply get on with her work, when he hadn't responded to her quip about missing her at the end of the evening she couldn't help but wonder if that was because he actually did miss her... But maybe she was simply trying to fool herself that she hadn't been a complete idiot in liking the guy in the first place.

He wasn’t waiting for her, and she firmly told herself she wasn’t disappointed but she kept a keen ear out as she approached Madam Pince and sure enough she heard the whisper of a presence behind her, and determined Malfoy had appeared mere seconds after her. Hmm, coincidence?

“You can switch back to the quills today, Miss Weasley, Mr Malfoy. The ones you have already fixed have already been snapped up by those classrooms in shortest supply and now the others teachers are complaining that they haven’t had their fair share.” With what might have been an eye roll at the childish behaviour of the staff, Madam Pince waved them on.

They took up their customary positions and Ginny reacquainted herself with the small pile of neatly labelled quills which had not been fixed from their previous session. She thought she felt Malfoy’s eyes on her at one point and felt colour rise in her cheeks, but when she glanced up surreptitiously he was completely absorbed in his work, and she had to bite back a laugh when she noticed the quill he was testing seemed to be spraying his face with ink every time he used it. She continued to watch as he dutifully ripped off a scrap of parchment and began to note its malfunction. Ginny sighed as she once again found herself being unsure whether she was relieved or disappointed by the Slytherin’s actions. On the one hand she was sure she didn’t want to speak to him, sure she’d had a lucky escape realising the boys true colours sooner rather than later. But she still couldn’t forget how caring he had been when she’d been upset over the expectations people had of her, how he had truly seemed to listen to her. She was as much a fan of house loyalty as any Gryffindor, but she wasn’t going to become as bad as the people she despised by hating someone just on principle, and that included a Slytherin. She didn’t know what was going on with Malfoy, or what her feelings for him were developing into, but she couldn’t deny he had a streak of kindness and decency in him.

They continued to work in silence, it seeming a little awkward to be so quiet in each other’s presence having worked most recently on the books together. Malfoy labelled the quills with his usual precision and Ginny worked carefully through them attempting to fix each one. The note of dismissal finally came just as Ginny had picked up another quill to start, and unwilling to add it back to the growing pile she decided to just finish it off before leaving. Malfoy was labelling his last quill too so they both lingered a few moments together. Ginny checked the label which read “regenerates ink used to communicate with writer”. Shaking her head slightly at this uncharacteristically vague description Ginny lowered the quill and wrote her name. The ink began to fade and Ginny felt unease rise within her. Gradually the ink reappeared and she froze as she read “Hello, Ginny”. Her heart began to thump wildly and suddenly she felt as though she were eleven years old again. Her mind cast her back to the way she would write to Tom, dear, understanding Tom, how she would eagerly await his responses, relishing the moment the ink would begin to reappear with his words. How she had begun to realise his manipulation and use of her. How she had feared writing to him and dreaded what words he would make appear. How he had possessed her.

“Ginny? Ginny!” the girl was shaking uncontrollably, her eyes fixed to the parchment before her and she was a pale as a ghost. Draco moved quickly to her and shook her firmly, alarmed by her appearance. As he touched her she seemed to come to, hastily dropping the quill, and before he knew what had happened she had run, sprinted even, from the library as if she were trying to outrun the devil himself.

Draco could only stand, stunned as she went. He looked down at the parchment and saw the words “Hello, Ginny” scrawled there, and realised she must have been on the conversational quill as he liked to think of it. Staring at the words Draco had not a single idea why they had caused such an adverse reaction in the Gryffindor. All he knew was that he couldn’t leave her alone, he needed to check on her. Shouldering her bag as well as his own he hastily made his exit from the library, grateful that Madam Pince was nowhere in sight.

*******

Ginny kept running down through the castle, out through the front doors and into the cold night air. She didn’t even stop then, carrying on running until she had reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and plunging herself into the safety of the trees there. She collapsed against a tree, catching her breath from her exertion and not realising she was crying until her heaving breaths continued long after she had stopped running. She wiped her hands angrily over her cheeks, attempting to scrub away the evidence of her distress despite the fact that there was no one there to see. It was stupid, stupid, to be upset, it was a damn quill and NOT Riddle’s diary. It was a childish charm, not an evil trapped soul which made the ink write back. She was safe. Her breathing began to steady but her heart still felt wrenched, the hurt from so many years ago flooding back with the humiliation and pain and betrayal. Suddenly Ginny heard a noise and saw a spark of light a short distance from her. Creeping closer she saw three third year students gathering around some sort of cigarette, puffing on it delightedly. She marched out to the younger students, not wanting them to be the ones stumbling upon her, and startled them from their activity, causing several very guilty looking faces.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she snapped authoritatively at them.

“Smoking cannabis,” one of them supplied easily, a less than lucid smile on his face, which quickly paled as Ginny silenced him with a stern frown, quickly swatting her hand out and smacking his hand holding the offending spliff, knocking it to the floor.

“Scram.” She said in a low fierce voice which said in no uncertain terms that it was an order, not a request. Finally realising they could get in rather a lot of trouble if this fiery sixth year Gryffindor chose to wish it upon them, the 3rd years scrambled away, almost tripping over themselves in their haste to escape.

Ginny followed them with her eyes for a short moment, relishing the sound of their hastily retreating footsteps. She eyed the spliff and quickly stepped towards it, picking it up off the floor, dusting it off and putting it to her mouth and inhaling before she could change her mind. She didn’t enjoy smoking, hadn’t really ever tried it before except for a puff on a pipe of a distant relative when Fred and George dared her to at a big family event a few years previously. Suppressing the urge to cough, Ginny took another deep drag on the cannabis laced cigarette, holding it for a moment before letting it out. She could quickly feel the slightly clouding effects of the drug, calming her slightly and encouraging her to continue.

“Ginny,” she heard his voice softly behind her, and she span round. “Smoking weed?” he questioned, with a slightly raised eyebrow. “Isn’t that a little… out of character?”

Ginny tried to look completely casual, not wanting Malfoy to notice her tear stained face and still slightly trembling hands. “Want some?” she offered indifferently, holding the spliff out as if she smoked all the time and was not feeling slightly nauseous from her sudden intake of the drug and smoke.

He looked at her carefully, and slowly reached out to take the spliff from her. “You know,” he said casually in a soft voice, eyeing up what he now held. “My father caught me smoking once. It was a few years ago, I was about 14 I suppose. My mother and he had held a dinner party for a few business associates of my fathers and one of them was trying to get into his good books, and gave me a gift of an intricately carved ivory box. I opened it to discover 40 cigarettes. “The finest African tobacco!” the man informed me jovially, and held out his lighter for me to try my first one. I was very smug of course,” Draco smiled hollowly, still staring at the spliff as its tip continued to glow. “As I sat there, feeling mature and aristocratic, my father discovered me. He looked furious and dragged me to his office, barely containing his anger enough to excuse himself from the guests.”

Ginny was held captivated by Draco’s voice, as she often was when he read Shakespeare. Now though, it wasn’t a tale from the bard which he shared, but an insight into his own family life, his upbringing and his father. Ginny was compelled to listen, not wanting to make a sound or movement to disturb him from his reverie.

“He sat me down in front of his desk and then leaned against it next to me, his close proximity scaring me almost as much as his steely gaze and hushed tones. In one hand I limply held the cigarette whilst the other still clutched the box containing the rest. He…” Draco paused slightly, swallowing, before continuing after a moment: “he proceeded to tell me the dangers of smoking. The… damaging effects it had. The unattractiveness of its habit, odour, detrimental effects on health. Then he ordered me to take another drag. The cigarette had gone out but he quickly relit it with the tip of his wand for me. I took a drag, feeling my heart thumping wildly against my chest. I was afraid.” Draco looked at Ginny finally. “I was afraid after all he had told me, why he would make me do it.” He paused again, holding Ginny’s attention, capturing her eyes, keeping her wondering what he was going to say next. Instead he took a shallow drag from the spliff, not taking it back but exhaling quickly, a look of intense distaste colouring his features as he surveyed the now brightly glowing end. “My father reached out and took the cigarette from me. Then he took my arm. He pulled my sleeve up and I watched as he pressed the lit end of the cigarette hard into the skin on my arm.” As he spoke Draco, looking straight at Ginny, took the spliff and pressed it into his palm, burning his skin. Tears filled Ginny’s eyes, startled by the story, by his actions, and shocked out of her own melancholy desire to escape to realise the foolishness of her actions. Looking back to his face Ginny saw Draco’s jaw clenched against the pain as he flicked the now put out spliff to the ground. He took a slow careful step towards Ginny. “My father made me light every one of those remaining 39 cigarettes. Made me take a drag from every single one before stubbing it out on the flesh of my arm. By the end, my arm was littered with its 40 burn marks, and I felt sick from the whole experience. “Remember, Draco,” he whispered to me, after the last one, clenching my burned arm, squeezing the damaged flesh tightly. “Remember just because you can’t see the damage something does, doesn’t mean it’s harmless.”” Draco let out a bitter laugh, finally looking away from Ginny. “How right he was about that one.” after a pause he finally finished his monologue: “He healed my arm then of course. Didn’t want to leave a scar… that time at least. He reminded me a Malfoy is far too superior than to inflict damage upon himself. Some dad, huh?” he quipped, uncomfortably, suddenly seeming to realise the full extent of what he had revealed to Ginny. “He made his point though,” he said, stepping closer to Ginny again. “It doesn’t help to hurt yourself. Plenty of other people are willing to do that for you out there. Best not to help them out.”

Ginny blinked causing the previously unshed tears to roll down her face, and she looked away from him, suddenly feeling very childlike in front of this man. He stepped towards her, closing the distance between them, obviously sensing how unhappy she was and wrapping his strong arms around her as she began to crumble and cry against him, wrapping her small arms around his waist. He shushed her quietly, rubbing soothing circles on her back and she eventually began to calm, her sobs turning to deep shuddering breaths as she attempted to pull herself back together. Draco pulled back from her slightly to look down at her as she quieted, and she tried to avoid his gaze.

“Hey,” he said softly, finally drawing her to look up at him. “Why don’t you try talking about it?” Ginny looked away hastily, a frown adorning her features. “Come on,” he said softly. “You tried your way, which I think you’ll agree was a complete disaster.” Ginny couldn’t help but let out a slight hiccupping laugh at his reverting to his characteristic sarcastic drawl. “Besides, I told you mine. It’s only fair that you give me something in return really. Otherwise how will I ever have any assurance you won’t use this information to blackmail me?” Only the fact that he still held his arms around Ginny made it complete clear that he was only teasing, his tone was mock serious and his face quite sombre.

Ginny let out another small laugh. “Yeah right, Malfoy. I’m not the Slytherin here, remember?”

“Ah yes,” Draco nodded seriously. “The evil Slytherin who, upon finding you alone, smoking, smoking drugs indeed, in the Forbidden Forest, if you please, takes off to report it to a superior, not before making some snide remarks about the individual, and insulting them in every possible way. That Slytherin would be me, yes?”

Ginny wriggled slightly uncomfortably from within the enclosure of Draco’s arms but not quite enough to serious imply she wanted to break free. “Um. I suppose so. Yes.” She said, pitifully looking up at him, her eyes drying more as the boy joked with her.

“Well in that case I’ve behaved terribly,” Draco said, finally letting her go and stepping back from her, causing her to feel a slight sadness, and disappointment at the sudden absence of his touch. “I got my role completely wrong,” he continued, as he sauntered away from her, towards where he first appeared. He stooped down suddenly before turning back to her, swinging his bag over his shoulder having retrieved it from the ground, and holding something out to her. “I must have been having a chivalrous moment.” And Ginny noticed that he held out her school bag, which he must have collected as he left the library to come after her.

*******

A/N Please let me know what you think, obviously something a bit different this chapter so I hope it goes down ok! Reviews to let me know would be so much appreciated. Also I would like to say Draco’s story wasn’t a big rant to any smokers out there in any way so please don’t take it that way, it’s merely for the story :)

19. Meeting with Malfoy

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

Right I’ve been trying to upload this chapter for about 2 weeks and Portkey is not cooperating. Basically when I upload it says Uploading to a temporary location... SUCCESSFUL Tidying text... SUCCESSFUL but then no text actually appears so I haven’t wanted to confirm the upload in case that just uploads an empty chapter…. But I don’t know what else to do so have chopped the chapter in half and am going to see if it can cope with this amount :-S sorry guys! … Upon further testing it still comes up blank so I’m just going to confirm it and see what happens…

My original A/N from ages ago was going to say….: I just wanted to say a special thank you to those reviewers who have stuck with this story the whole way through always letting me know what they think and encouraging me to continue. It’s great to hear from anyone who reviews and I value it a lot so thank you all, but those people who have reviewed from the very beginning get an extra special thank you for consistently giving me feedback.

*******

He had walked her back to the castle in a silence which had seemed at turns both comfortable and awkward. She was glad that he was with her, so glad that he was by her side and that she wasn’t alone. When they’d entered the castle they stood awkwardly for a moment, blinking in the bright light, so different from the darkening dusk they had walked back to the castle in.

“Well,” she’d said eventually, causing him to finally look up at her. The planes of his face were impassive again, showing no hint of the disturbing story he had told not so long ago. “It seems I have to thank you again.”

He didn’t smile, but just looked at her seriously for a moment. “What do you say then?” he asked quietly.

“Um… thanks?” Ginny said questioningly, unsure what his prodding was for – she kind of thought she had said thank you, if indirectly. But if Malfoy were trying to drag this out, relish having her thank him and the vulnerable position he had found her in… she felt a spark of indignation rise in her at this thought and as he frowned at her.

“What? No, no.” he said shaking his head suddenly seeming to realise her confusion. “You’re welcome for that.” He said gesturing vaguely outside. “I meant what do you say to talking about it? As an insurance policy for myself of course.” He added quickly when he saw her start to close in on herself when he mentioned talking about the cause of her upset.

Really Ginny was squirming out of shame at having thought he was forcing her to thank him again, to grovel somehow, when in reality he didn’t even feel he had done anything of note for her, and was only trying to help her further by letting her talk to him. She felt herself blush slightly as she once again realised how wrong her expectations of the boy in front of her were; she kept assuming the worst from him even after everything he had done for her tonight.

“You don’t have to. If it makes you uncomfortable. I just thought…” he said, and she realised he had taken her silence to mean something else.

“No!” she nearly shouted, looking at him finally and causing her blush to deepen at her outburst. “I – I mean… it does make me uncomfortable, yes… but… but maybe I… maybe I could. Talk to you.” She grimaced slightly at how badly she was doing this, but the truth was Draco had shown her such kindness. He had shared a part of himself, a part of his nightmare with her in order to relieve the pain of her own, to make her feel she wasn’t alone, and that it wasn’t worth punishing herself for. She wanted to thank him and maybe opening up to him in return was the way to do that. To show him that he wasn’t alone either, and that she knew horror and had lived with it too.

“OK.” Draco said, face impassive again, so that she couldn’t tell if he was pleased by her agreement or not.

“OK.” Ginny stated back. There was a pause which seemed to be full of a suffocating silence as neither of them moved or spoke, not quite knowing what to do or say.

“Tomorrow?” they eventually both said at once and then catching eyes they grinned at each other, both amused by their own nervous reaction to the situation.

“Tomorrow.” Ginny confirmed. “It’s a Hogsmeade weekend…”

“Let’s stay here then.” Draco said firmly, causing Ginny to raise her eyebrow.

“It’ll be quieter,” he explained at her look. “Plus hardly anyone has explored the grounds here properly and I bet you’d be astounded.”

“Really?” Ginny questioned, her other eyebrow joining the first as she raised them in surprise. The Slytherin merely shrugged, and Ginny sighed knowing she would get nothing further from him. “OK, fine. I’ll meet you-”

“By the greenhouses.”

“At-”

“1.”

There was another beat of silence as Ginny eyed him up again, but he returned nothing in his cool gaze. “Fine.” She agreed, breaking eye contact with him as if admitting defeat to a stare off that he had barely seemed to notice he was even participating in. She turned to walk away and heard him do the same, and she took a few steps before turning back to him. “Oh and Draco?” she called, causing him to turn back. “Thank you.” She said simply, with a small smile. He nodded, and walked away.

*******

“Where were you last night, Gin? I was looking out for you but didn’t see you come up?”

“Hmm? Oh I was just… caught up. Talking. With a… friend.” Ginny answered, rather unconvincingly. Harry didn’t seem to mind, or indeed notice, though.

“Oh. Well I was going to ask, um, I wondered if you would come to Hogsmeade with me today?” he asked, not quite rushing all of the words into one and managing to keep his eyes on hers but tingeing a slight shade of pink all the same. Ginny eyed him up wondering what was wrong with him.

“Well I came with you last weekend Harry.” She said slightly suspiciously, wondering if her brother had put him up to this.

“Well yeah, but that was with Ron and Hermione.” He explained. She frowned, further confused.

“I thought they were going to Hogsmeade today too?”

“They are.”

“So what do you mean, Harry?” she asked slightly impatient with him now and trying to figure out what he was on about. She had her mind on other things, other people truth be told, and she wanted Harry to buzz off and leave her alone to get ready in peace.

“I mean, I was hoping you would go to Hogsmeade with me. Alone. Not as a group, or with other people but just the two of us. As a… a kind of-”

“Oh I can’t I’m sorry Harry,” Ginny said quickly, trying to stop him from saying the word she was rather concerned he was in fact about to use. “I’m staying at the castle you see, meeting a friend, I think we’re doing some extra studying you see, you know what sixth year’s like! Crazy already and I don’t want to get behind, you know what my mum’s like – she’d be worrying she had another drop out if I didn’t get a decent mark! Thanks for asking though, I’m sure you’ll have a great time; I’ve got to go, need to dig out that homework! Bye!!” and with that garbled speech Ginny sped off back up to her dorm, trying not to notice Harry’s slightly deflated look.

Seriously, talk about timing Ginny thought to herself as she practically ran into the girl’s bathroom and turned on the shower, stepping in quickly knowing that the magically heated water would already be up to the perfect temperature. Harry decides that today of all days is the day to ask me on a date. The day that I am, in fact spending with Draco, his arch nemesis. Ginny sighed under the stream of the shower, trying to let the warm water soothe her jangled nerves and calm her down. She’d been sad last night as she crawled into her bid bed and curled up, still plagued with unhappy thoughts of her first year now mingled with unhappy thoughts of Draco’s home life. She couldn’t imagine what it had been like for him being tortured by his own father, and she had a sad, hollow feeling that told her it hadn’t been the only time. Sighing again trying to shake the melancholy thoughts Ginny began to soap herself in the shower, but it wasn’t long before her thoughts of last night were replaced with thoughts of the afternoon to come. An afternoon alone with Draco… it seemed silly, being nervous when really they spent several hours together every day. But this was different, Ginny told herself. For once, they wouldn’t be surrounded by books, a purpose - an excuse to be together. Today they had chosen to come together, to “explore the grounds” as he had said, enjoying the privacy awarded by most of the students flooding to Hogsmeade. They could do whatever they wanted… Ginny’s wand suddenly emitted a loud shriek just as Ginny was losing herself in her less than innocent daydreams, causing her to break off suddenly and blush unnecessarily. It was just her alarm to tell her she had an hour before needing to leave to meet Draco. Finishing washing herself quickly in the shower she tried to ignore the desire that was still stoked up inside her, and how sensitive her body suddenly felt as the towel brushed across her most intimate places.

She dressed in simple skinny jeans and pumps with a scoop neck t-shirt and cardigan on top, covering her cleavage but exposing the skin above. Drying her hair with her wand she debated whether to put any make up on or not but decided against it, firmly telling herself this was not a date it was just a… meeting.

Surveying herself once more in the mirror, Ginny’s wand gave another squawk, indicating it was 12.45pm, and time to leave. Taking a deep breath, she began to slowly make her way down through the castle to the greenhouses outside, in turns fighting the urge to run towards and away from her destination.

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A/N OK well hopefully this will have worked :-S if it has please review!

20. Navigating Through the Maze

Disclaimer: JK owns them all!

This chapter follows straight on from the previous one.

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When she arrived she noticed him straight away, casually leaning back against the greenhouses in dark jeans and a grey t-shirt. She smirked slightly as she contemplated whether he was actually able to stand near something without leaning against it, and continued to approach him. As he noticed her presence he shrugged away from the greenhouses and stood waiting for him to reach her.

“Potter didn’t whisk you away to Hogsmeade again then?”

Ginny merely rolled her eyes. “Do you really want to bring up Hogsmeade, Malfoy?” She asked him in a lightly teasing tone.

“I’m not entirely sure that I shouldn’t, considering I didn’t actually do anything wrong.” He said, turning away from her and beginning to lead her down the side of the greenhouses.

“Didn’t do anything wrong?” Ginny asked in mock outrage. “Well apart from being drunk and disorderly-”

“I have definitely been more inebriated than that before and I don’t recall doing anything “disorderly”.”

Ginny scoffed. “Please,” she said mockingly, “I don’t think I even want to know what you and Zabini were talking about to make him use some of the gestures and poses he was doing.” Draco merely smiled slightly at this and didn’t respond for a moment, still walking. Finally he looked over at her with a slight twinkle in his eye.

“Are you sure you don’t want to know?” he asked.

“No.” Ginny said quickly, blushing, and Draco shrugged slightly, still with a small smile on his face. However, curiosity now peaked, Ginny found herself unable to leave it alone and after a few moments of silence she finally burst out: “oh fine, tell me then.”

“It might shock you,” Draco responded, surely purposefully trying to wind her up.

“Come off it, Malfoy,” Ginny scoffed again.

“He was explaining his latest sexual escapades. With a Veela.” Draco held a slightly amused look on his face but thankfully didn’t watch Ginny’s reaction as a blush rose swiftly to colour her cheeks.

“Oh.” There was another awkward silence, which dragged on as they both continued walking, apparently lost in their own thoughts. Ginny, for her part, was trying to stop her imagination going wild at the thought that she and Draco were practically having a conversation about sex. Given her somewhat heightened sense of arousal after this morning’s daydreams in the shower, she tried to stop herself getting carried away as she felt Draco’s hand brush against her own as they walked. “Have you ever?” She blurted, unable to stop herself.

“What?” Draco questioned, glancing at her.

“Had- had sex with a Veela?” she asked, inwardly cursing herself for asking such a ridiculous question, whilst equally very curious to know the answer.

“No,” he responded, his face showing distaste though he didn’t seem much bothered by her asking. Well, he is a bloke, she reminded herself.

“You don’t seem that keen on the idea,” she noted aloud.

“Have you seen what they turn into?” he asked her, and she smirked as she realised that was a fair point.

They circled the end of the greenhouses and the edge of the castle and came to an area of hedgerow which Ginny was pretty sure had some mystical, magical properties which she should probably be able to list, but couldn’t seem to bring herself to care about. She stopped, wondering why Draco had bought her to this dead-end, but he kept walking and reached out his hand towards the hedge which then parted just before he was about to touch it. Continuing forward Ginny watched as the hedge carried on creeping back from Draco’s body and eventually a wooden door was revealed which Draco’s seeking hand grasped the doorknob of, pulling open the door towards him and gesturing Ginny inside.

She stepped through in front of him and was only dimly aware of him following her and closing the door behind them as she drank in the sight before her. The gardens were amazing, a beautiful arrangement of every possible colour spread out before her. To her left was an area of precise rows of small dainty flowers, whilst straight ahead bushes and creepers spread out in a sort of jungle, and to the right she could see the edges of a pond with dragonflies whose bodies were the size of her arm flitting about over the water.

“C’mon,” Draco said lightly after a moment of letting her take it all in. He led her past the neat rows on the left and she noticed more hedgerow appearing after them. Disappointed that the gardens ended so quickly she was suddenly excited to realise that the hedge had an opening, much like the opening to a-

“Maze,” Draco confirmed, stepping inside and looking back at her. She stepped in next to him and noticed that the path immediately broke off to the left and right. She grinned up at Draco.

“Race?” she questioned, causing him to raise his eyebrows slightly at her before smiling back and spinning on his heel, running to the right. Ginny immediately felt her grin spread as she turned and took the left path.

She had began in quite a rush but it wasn’t long before she slowed, realising that this was a rather long maze and she didn’t particularly want to finally get to the middle only to collapse in exhaustion. She encountered several dead ends and had to turn back on herself often but she thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, feeling childish delight over the challenge she faced. She wondered if Draco had reached the centre and blushed again, thinking about how she had managed to instigate a conversation about sex with him. Pondering him again she couldn’t help but dredge up the memory of Zabini thrusting his hips in a practiced manner, and Ginny’s eyes fluttered closed as she imagined Draco thrusting, his outstretched arms holding her down… Ginny forced her eyes open once again fighting the urge to blush even though no one was there to see her. There was no denying it; she was lusting after Draco Malfoy. She’d long ago admitted to herself before that she found him hot, and whilst his brush off had made her feel foolish and hurt his kindness to her only made him more appealing. But he was different from all of the other guys she had known. Whilst many of them were undoubtedly kind, Draco’s kindness seemed to come with real care and experience. His whole attitude was somehow much more… mature. As if rather than just being kind by habit, he was kind because he really considered what she was feeling. His aloofness and distance only made her want to cling to him more, to find out what fuelled these moments. The way he had succeeding in carefully pushing her away only made her more curious, as every rumour she had ever heard about the Slytherin and every presumption she had ever had seemed to be being blown away. Ginny had the feeling that when he had said he didn’t want her to be unhappy the other day he said it knowing what unhappiness could do to a person, not merely as hollow words meant to charm her but little else.

Ginny was broken from her musing as suddenly the light seemed to change, and she looked up in surprise to find herself in a small clearing, bathed in sunlight.

“That,” a drawling voice noted, “was hardly a race.” Ginny looked down to see that Draco was sprawled out on what appeared to be a picnic blanket, a generous quantity of food laid next to him.

******

She smiled brightly as she looked down on Draco and the picnic he had arranged, and he felt something in his chest jump at the sight of her. Merlin she is gorgeous his thoughts betrayed him, and he quickly sat up in case any other part of him were about to betray him also.

“This place is amazing.” Ginny commented lightly as she dropped down on to the blanket, and Draco nodded, looking around once again at his surroundings.

“They put it here at the same time as the one for the Triwizard Tournament. It’s a lot smaller obviously, but it was meant as a sort of lasting reminder of the final task. Then obviously things ended the way they did, and no one thought the lasting reminder would be welcome.”

Ginny nodded quietly at his words, looking around her with a different perspective.

“It’s still beautiful though,” she said finally. “How did you find it?”

Draco shrugged lightly. “Last year… things started to get a bit… hectic… for me. I started to value any time or place that I could get away from… everything.” There was an awkward pause as Draco’s memories catapulted him back to the time he had spent ignoring his father’s orders, seeking solitude, trying to come to terms with the decisions he had to make, coming to certain realisations… “Anyway,” he continued, suddenly realising Ginny hadn’t taken her eyes off him, “that’s when I found it.” She looked at him plainly, and he could see in her eyes that she knew there was more to his story. He readied himself for her incessant questioning to begin, but instead she finally looked away and smiled again at the food.

“Well, thanks for sorting all this out, I’m starving after that.”

“I’m a bloke, all we think about is food.”

“I thought it was sex?”

Draco looked up at her again in surprise.

“Well?” she squirmed under his gaze. “Isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well apparently men think about sex every seven seconds.”

“We do?”

“Well, you tell me, have you thought about sex in the past seven seconds?”

“Obviously!” Draco cried, causing the girl to blush and gulp.

“You have?” she said, her voice seeming a little breathy to him.

“Of course!” he answered in a bemused fashion.

“Why “of course”?” she asked, and he couldn’t help but notice her breaths seemed to be shallower, her eyes a little bright.

“Because you just mentioned it!”

“Oh.” She said, suddenly looking away, closing her eyes and shaking her head a little. “Sorry,” she said after a moment. “I’m a little… distracted today.”

Draco had no idea what to say to that. Ginny certainly did seem distracted, and it was making him distracted - thinking about sex around her only made him imagine it with her, and he shifted slightly uncomfortably, trying to disguise the semi hard on that was being stimulated by their discussion and his enthusiastic imagination. He looked at her again and noticed the slight flush in her cheeks as she lightly nibbled at her lower lip subconsciously, making him want to capture her face in his hands and kiss her thoroughly to maul her lips with his own. He cleared his throat and looked away again, down at the food.

“Shall we eat then?” he asked quickly, seeing a safe topic and running with it. He saw her smile in what looked like a small measure of relief, and they began devouring the food, both stuffing their faces to start with in order to have a valid excuse not to speak for a few moments at least.

*******

When her hunger, and embarrassment, had subsided somewhat, Ginny lay back on the blanket, stretching out and enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin. The days were beginning to get chillier but this one was sunny and bright, and she was damn well going to make the most of it.

Draco sat next to her facing towards the direction she lay back in so that he could observe her, his knees bent up with his arms resting lightly on them, seeming to enjoy the peace afforded by this place.

“So,” he said eventually, and she opened her eyes which had drifted closed.

“So.” She said, looking at the clouds above her but feeling Draco’s eyes on her face. After a moment of her continued silence he spoke again.

“You know Muggles actually pay people to listen to them talk about themselves.” She looked at him in disbelief. “Well, not all of them obviously.” He allowed.

“Yeah?” she questioned and he shrugged, obviously not wanting to reveal where he had discovered that piece of information. “So when are you paying up for last night then?” Ginny teased, hoping to deflect the attention from her talking about herself.

“I thought we were doing it on more of an exchange basis,” Draco started dryly, looking straight into her eyes, causing her heart to beat quicker as she felt the dread and nerves rise up within her. She turned her face away from him, breaking eye contact and trying to hide the fact her eyes were glistening with tears.

“I can’t,” she said after a moment, meaning for it to come out strong but instead it only escaped as a whisper, making her feel mortified at her own weakness and stupidity. Before she could stand up and run away again though, she suddenly felt his hand take her own, which was lying limply at her side. He didn’t say anything, only held her hand and turned his gaze away from her, seeming to understand her desire to not have an audience as she tried to stop herself from crumbing apart again. She was so grateful that she found herself clutching his hand in return, holding on to him firmly. He let the silence stretch on and kept the strong solid hold on her hand, gradually moving his thumb in soothing circles over the back of her hand, and soon her eyes fluttered closed again and her heart returned to its steady beat.

Eventually she felt him shift slightly, and she opened her eyes the barest crack to watch him lie himself down, spreading out next to her, his head at her feet and his feet and her head, their hands still clasped resting gently on the blanket beneath them.

“So,” she said lightly.

“So.” He agreed from down by her feet, making her smile slightly.

“Advanced NEWTs huh?” she asked lightly, referring to the books she had found him studying several weeks ago. His slow thumb movements over her hand stilled and Ginny took it upon herself to take over, now tracing small patterns with her thumb on the back of the hand she still held. Her actions seemed to stop him from tensing so much.

“I told you, I’m not taking them.”

“But you’re studying for them.” Ginny stated.

“Not for them, I’m just studying the material.”

“But if you’re doing the studying why wouldn’t you take the exam?” Ginny questioned, confused as to his reasoning. To her surprise he let out a derisive laugh.

“Yeah right, your brother and co. would take kindly to that wouldn’t they?”

“What do you mean?” Ginny asked frowning slightly, not understanding why it would bother them. Draco sighed slightly, as if she were being a bit simple.

“They’d think I was “up to something” Ginny,” he stated simply.

“But you’re not,” she said, frowning further, then suddenly she sat up, and looked firmly down on him, causing his own eyes to open. “Are you?”

“What do you think?” he asked her quietly, looking at her in a way which seemed to bear his vulnerability to her, and she shook her head slowly, the action filled with hope which she didn’t want to be crushed. “Of course not.” He continued, and though he didn’t show it she thought he was pleased by her response, as he began to work circles into the back of her hand again. “But that won’t stop them thinking that. They’re very… eager… to find conclusions, your friends, aren’t they? Mind you, they have surprised me by not threatening to kill me yet this term.”

“Why would they threaten to kill you?” Ginny asked, curious again.

“You’re kidding right?” Draco asked, his eyes firmly trained on the clouds above him. “Spending hours shut away with you doesn’t seem to me like something they’d be very happy with me doing.”

“They don’t know,” Ginny said, in a small voice, causing Draco to look back at her in surprise and then sit up next to her.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I- I haven’t told them.” There was a pause.

“Why not?”

Ginny stood up, breaking away from him and letting go of his hand finally. “Isn’t it obvious?” she said, stomping away from him to fiddle with the edge of the hedge. “Like you say they’re pretty “eager” to get involved. I didn’t want to have to deal with them pestering me about you all the time, questioning me about your actions every day. And I didn’t want to have to deal with their overprotective bullshit. I can look after myself, I don’t need them treating me like a 10 year old taking sweets from a stranger. Or making a scene going to McGonagall saying that I shouldn’t have to work with a certain slimy git.” She said looking back over her shoulder at him with a smirk.

“I seem to remember you rather enjoying kissing this slimy git,” Draco teased lightly, causing Ginny to stiffen; it was the first time they had spoken about their previous… actions.

“Well,” she said after a moment, “I didn’t really think if I told Ron, Harry and Hermione about that their reactions would have been much better.”

“They seriously don’t know?”

“Of course not,” Ginny said rolling her eyes. “Like you said, you’re still alive aren’t you?”

“I thought maybe it was his idea.”

Ginny’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. “You thought it was Ron’s idea that I kiss you?”

“Not his. Potter’s.” There was beat of silence.

“What the hell?” Ginny suddenly exploded. “You thought it was Harry’s idea for me to kiss you? You think Harry asked me to do that? You thought I would agree to do that just because Harry asked me? You may have shown some Gryffindor chivalry but only a true stinking Slytherin could come up with a cunning plan like that. What the hell is wrong with you Malfoy? I know your dad’s a bastard but don’t you trust anybody?”

“Would you have?” he asked in a tone of forced calm, his eyes glinting at her anger of her belittling his problems.

“I DID!” she raged at him, fuming. “I DID! I kissed you didn’t I? I didn’t even consider that you were doing it back as some kind of trick, or ploy. For fuck’s sake I thought I’d seen something in you… found the real fucking deal underneath all the bullshit that surrounds you. Is this the reason why you broke it off?” she demanded suddenly.

“It’s one of the reasons-”

“One of!” she scoffed mockingly, “well I suppose that shows your true Slytherin colours for self-preservation doesn’t it?” she asked rhetorically, her voice still coloured by anger. Suddenly her face dropped and she seemed on the verge of tears as she whispered: “You’re just as bad as the rest of them.” Before turning and speeding away from the clearing, plunging back into the maze and attempting to navigate amongst the winding pathways, as well as through her own troubled thoughts.

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A/N OK don’t kill me for ending it – yet again – with a down turn for their relationship! Don’t worry things will be repaired… at some point ;) please review and let me know what you think!