Among Other Things

Philip Denson Normal Philip Denson 1 2 2003-08-26T00:44:00Z 2003-08-26T00:46:00Z 2 569 3245 27 7 3807 10.4219 Clean Clean MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Among Other Things

Chapter 1: Dreams or Nightmares?

~"And tell me.... what makes you think I would love someone like you?" Ginny asked the dark haired boy.

"Please Ginny? I love you! Please!" he begged.

Ginny turned her head to the side, and then followed suit with the rest of her. As she walked away, she heard his footsteps, and felt as he grabbed her arm.

She spun around to tell him to leave her alone, that she didn't want the famous Harry Potter anymore, when he changed into a blonde-haired, flint-eyed boy, causing her to look up into his face, given the height difference.~

She sat up quickly, panting. Her room was dark, and her curtains were around her. It was the third time that week that she'd had the dream.

She wondered what it meant, why she was having it so often. It was getting harder and harder for her to concentrate in class, what with getting roughly four hours of sleep per night, at the most.

She flopped back into her pillows, rubbing her eyes until she saw spots. She sighed, yanked the covers off angrily, and peeled herself from her sweat-soaked bed sheets.

She stomped, albeit as quietly as she could stomp without waking up the rest of the sixth years, to the showers. She pulled her dark green silk nightie over her head and stuffed it on a shelf, next to a towel and a sponge.

She turned on the tap, letting it run until it was perfect, hot, but not hot enough to burn. She let the water cascade over her body, trying to get the tired feeling to go away, and trying to get the nervous feeling out of her stomach.

She washed her hair, using her favorite apple cinnamon shampoo, and reveled in the feeling of her silky hair. It was a mix of copper, amber, light brown and true red, and it glistened in the light.

She got out the sponge and poured melon scented body gel onto it, relaxing as she washed herself. She could finally say she was calm by the time she was dry. She cast a drying spell on her hair, and it immediately was dry, clean, and, much to her despair, curly.

She had always hated her curly hair. Every other girl had straight hair. She hated her freckles, and the fact that she was short, and she hated that, no matter what her dreams said, she was never going to have Harry Potter begging for her to love him.

She snorted at that, and pulled on some cream-colored shorts and a hunter green baby-tee. She then put her robes over that, and proceeded to brush her hair out.

Her mind went back to her dream. 'What in Merlin's name is that about? I'm dreaming about Malfoy, of all creatures. Although I must admit he's rather handsome.... oh, who am I kidding? He's hotter than anyone I've ever seen. But... dreaming about him? Virginia, what on earth is wrong with you?'

She sighed, and continued arguing with herself. It was an hour until breakfast, and she figured she'd have a walk around the hallways, telling Filch she had just gotten up early. He accepted that every time.

She milled around aimlessly, thinking. Not really expecting to run into anybody at six o'clock in the bloody morning.

'He's just SUCH a prat. I really shouldn't even be thinking of him. Yet, every time I think of Harry, I think of Draco. He should be a vampire, what with that skin. But his eyes aren't anywhere near dark enough..... Oh, for the love of all that is good and magical, why can't I get him out of my head?!' her mind strained as she practically screamed the thought.

She gasped as she turned the corner. Sitting there, on the steps, was Draco Malfoy.

'It bloody well figures.' she thought, letting out a groan.

His head shot up to look at her, and she gasped as she saw a hand print in his face, very red against his fair skin.

And, I think I will leave it there for now. I'll have the next chappy up ASAP. Review please!

Normal Philip Denson 3 4 2003-08-22T22:16:00Z 2003-08-27T03:16:00Z 1 549 3130 26 7 3672 10.4219 Clean Clean 0 6 pt 6 pt 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Among Other Things

Chapter 2: Meetings in the Morning

"What are you staring at?" he snarled, furious at himself for getting caught. 'Great Merlin, and it had to be the Weasel too, didn't it?' he thought to himself with disgust.

"What happened?" she asked softly, not shaking at his tone, as she would have not even a year earlier.

"What is it to you, little mudblood-lover?" he asked with silky menace, feeling a twinge of both pleasure and guilt at her cringe. Yet she still advanced, albeit slowly. He admired her newly grown backbone.

"I'm trained in healing, you great prat. I can heal that for you without you having to explain to Poppy about it," she snapped back, her nerves worn thin enough, without having him acting like someone stuck his wand up his arse.

Draco raised an eyebrow, but nodded silently, and her pace picked up a bit. It wasn't too many paces until she was right in front of him, drawing out her wand.

She muttered a few words that he couldn't hear, and immediately, the stinging sensation in his face faded to nothing.

He looked at her, sneered, and said, "Well, seems something got into that thick skull of yours."

Ginny smiled, and then broke out in giggles, "Right, I'M the one with the thick skull."

Draco looked at her as if she was the next candidate for St. Mungo's, and she stopped, minus a few chuckles she couldn't help letting out.

"First that dream, or should I say nightmare? Oh, who cares, I don't know how to describe it. And now this. What a morning," she said, knowing he heard, but not caring as she talked to herself.

"Next thing you know, I'll get trapped in a broom closet with Pansy, and have to get more inoculations from her bite than I would if Fluffy bit me. Huh. I get all the luck," she stopped there.

Draco looked at her, shaking his head with amusement. "What on earth are you going on about NOW, little girl?" he asked her.

Ginny looked up at him, an eyebrow cocked, and replied, "Little? Gosh, in the opinion of one who is a whole entire year older than I am, I'm a little girl. So, just what does that make you?"

Draco was taken aback, and his eyes betrayed his shock, for a smirk just like his appeared on her face. "Good grief, we can't have you copying my patented looks, even though I do look quite good, it doesn't on you. I can see why you'd want to...... pattern yourself after me though," he ended airily.

Ginny gave a most unladylike snort, and replied, "Yes, right, pattern myself after a tall, bleach-blonde git, who is so full of himself, he's gone narcissistic."

Draco smirked, looked down at her, and said, "Well, it seems as if I need to find out what caused the little fire sprite to get brave enough to face me."

Ginny stiffened, looked him in the eyes, and said stonily, "I wouldn't bet on you being able to. Try all you want, you won't get me, know me, or break me. Now, I have to go to breakfast. Here is not the place I most want to be right now. Goodbye."

And with that she turned on her heel, and walked quickly away, leaving him standing there, almost speechless. 'What a little bitch. Good grief.'

Ginny felt her head hurting her, and flashes of her dream started to hit her, making her weave. She felt her way to a wall, and slid down it, praying that they would stop.

"Ginny? Ginny, what is it?" asked the concerned voice of Ron.

She couldn't answer yet, and was wondering why her dreams, nightmares, rather, would plague her during the day.

She moaned, her body went slack and her head drooped. Everything went black.

I think there is where I'll leave it! Hm. Anyhow, I'll get the next chapter up ASAP!!! Enjoy, and PLZ PLZ PLZ review!!!!!!!

Among Other Things

Chapter 3: Choices To Make

"Ginny? C'mon dearie, wake up now." called a gentle voice from beyond the murky mist that clouded her senses.

Ginny moaned, and tried to crack open her eyes, only to have them practically assaulted by a bright light. She quickly shut them and muttered, "Turn out the bloody lights, and maybe I can."

"Language, dear, although I can understand in this case how you might not feel in the most polite of moods," clucked Madame Pomfrey.

She muttered a spell to tone down the lights, and Ginny finally opened her eyes, blinking owlishly. "What happened?" she asked.

"Well luv, that's what I'd like you to tell me. What did you see or do before you fainted?" asked the healer.

Ginny closed her eyes again, and tried to remember. It hit her like a freight train, what had happened, and she gasped.

"I-I took a walk, I had had a-a-just a dream, and woke up early. I walked up on-on Dra-Malfoy, and he had been hurt, not badly though. Probably a fight with his girlfriend. I healed him, and started towards the dining hall. I-um-I just felt-well, um, kind of weird, so I sat on the floor. I guess I just blacked out then," she finished.

Madame Pomfrey shook her head at her young acolyte, and asked, "And what have you left out, luv? I know when you're hiding something from me."

Ginny sighed, "I've just had a dream that keeps coming back. Rather rediculous one, if you ask me. And after Draco, I mean Malfoy, talked to me, just being the usual resistant prat, I started getting flashes of the dream back. I, well, collapsed into a wall, and blacked out. Who brought me here?" she asked.

"You're brother dear. He would have been here by now, but he has classes you know. Potions, Divination, all those." Poppy replied.

Ginny nodded, and flopped back into the sheets. She wondered why every bloody thing had to happen to her. 'Well, at least I'm not Draco. That's a comfort.' she thought.

"Dearest," Madame Pomfrey started, "what did you dream about? I'm sorry, I have to ask this. With the reaction you had you might, well, you might have The Sight."

Ginny's eyes flew open. "The Sight!? How in Merlin's name could I ever get The Sight?"

"The dream dear.......?"

"Alright," Ginny sighed. "It starts out with, well, Harry," she blushed, "telling me he loves me and such, and I tell him that I am no longer in love with the great Harry Potter. I turn and start to leave, and I hear him come towards me. He grabs my arm, and I turn around quickly to tell him to leave me alone, when it's not Harry anymore, it's Draco." she replied, unconsiously lapsing into using Malfoy's first name.

Madame Pomfrey thought about it for a minute, and said, "Excuse me." She left quickly, and Ginny sighed with relief.

'Finally, I'm left alone!' she thought, and started to nod off again.

"What the heck am I doing here?" Ginny asked aloud, when she found herself standing in the dungeons.

All of a sudden, two small chests appeared in front of her. She opened the first one, and a picture of Harry was in there. The second one had a picture of Draco.

"YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE. IT IS YOUR DESTINY," came a booming voice from somewhere in the room.

Ginny looked around, and said, "Choose one? But I don't want to choose anyone. I'm too young, and what's the choice? Draco is the git of all time, and Harry wants Hermione, plus the other way around. THERE ISN'T ANY CHOICE! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" she ended in a scream.

"Ginny, GINNY WAKE UP!" came a voice from somewhere outside the dungeon.

She sat up quickly, still in the infirmiry, her brother, Harry and Hermione all looking worried. She caught her breath as quickly as she could and shook her head to clear it.

"What the bloody hell were you dreaming about Gin?" Ron asked worriedly.

"J-just a nightmare, don't fret so much. How are you all?" she replied.

"How are we? We're fine, you're the one who's a patient." Harry replied gently.

Ginny smiled, and for the first time realized she didn't feel anything for Harry. She felt no butterflies, and not even a tiny flutter in her heart. She could finally look at him, and smile at him, without blushing.

Ginny looked down, and saw that Harry had grasped Hermione's hand and was rubbing it softly with his thumb.

She smiled mischeviously, and asked, "So, anything I don't know about *yet*?"

Harry and Hermione both blushed, and smiled at eachother, and Ron snickered. Then Hermione looked at Ginny, and asked, "You alright?". Ginny knew what she meant, and nodded, smiling widely.

Harry visibly relaxed, and Hermione did as well. Ron just shook his head at them, rolled his eyes, and concentrated on his sister.

"So, you're sure you're gonna be alright?" he asked, getting the worried, big brother tone again.

Ginny retorted, "Ron, I am fine. Probably didn't get enough to eat between dinner and breakfast, and just passed out. DON'T WORRY!"

Harry and Hermione laughed, and herded Ron out, saying their good-byes. And whether Ginny knew it or not, her choice had already been made.

This was one of my first ideas and I left it in the middle. So, let’s see if I can pick it back up. Please review! ^_^ Thanks to everyone who’s already reviewed thus far.

A/N: Just to let everyone know, I started this fic about a year ago, and it has seven chapters already complete. Sorry it’s taken me so long to post, but I’d lost the disk it was on. It’s found now, and I’ll be posting rather quickly. Hopefully I can pick up where I left off on the uncompleted chapter 8, and hopefully by now I’m a better author. Okay, well, read on then! Blessed be, Chero.

Among Other Things

Chapter 4: Voices In My Head

Ginny sighed as she rolled up her parchment for potions. It was her least favorite class, and she was barely passing. Not because she didn't get the answers right, but because she was Gryffindor, and Snape hates those.

She got up from her place in the library, and opened the door, only to bump into the one person she wished she didn't have to see right now.

"Draco, get out of my way. Please," she ground out through clenched teeth.

He looked slightly surprised for a moment, and then his sneer was put back into place. "Well, little Weasel *does* seem to be growing a backbone," he started with a bemused tone. "But she had better watch how she talks to me, if she doesn't wish to get into something she doesn't want to." he finished, the last bit of the sentence was whispered with silky menace in her ear.

She shivered at the feel of his warm breath on her ear, and started at the fluttering in her tummy. She shook it off, glared at him, and replied, "Sod off, wanker." She stalked off, her small hands clenching into fists and unclenching in anger.

'Merlin's beard, what is happening to me?!' she thought, panicked. 'I got turned....... I can't even think it! I'm going bloody insane! Send me to the nuthouse about now!' "Argh!" she fumed.

"Well, is the little Weasel angry about something?" came the most unwelcome voice.

"Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked through her clenched teeth.

"Ah, so it's not Malfoy anymore?" he asked with mock surprise. "I think I liked hearing my name coming from your lips," he leered, thinking at the same time, 'Even if you are a Mudblood-lover', and reveling in the fact that his suspicions were right. She had blinked, blushed a most brilliant red, and looked down.

'She wants me. Well, not surprising. Just something else to tease the pretty on- Wait, since when has she been pretty? St. Mungo's here I come.....'

He started out of his thoughts as he saw her hand waving in front of his face, a slightly annoyed, slightly amused expression on her face.

Her breath caught in her throat as his now clear, blue grey eyes met her amber ones. A shiver went down her spine, and she backed away.

It hit her then, pounding words. Her hands flew to her head, and she collapsed, and would have fallen on the floor if Draco hadn't caught her in time, paling at the sight before him.

Words rang through her head "NO CHOICE, NO CHOICE, IT'S BEEN MADE ALREADY, NO CHOICE NOW!!! YOU HAVE CHOSEN, YOU HAVE CHOSEN!!!" was pounding into her head, to a level that was excruciating.

She barely felt her knees buckle, or the strong arms that now carried her. All she was aware of was the screaming in her head, and the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

Draco was more confused that anything else. He ran, actually ran, to Mme. Pomfrey's, making sure he didn't drop his load on the way.

Poppy didn't ask him many questions, just asked what seemed to be wrong. By this time, Ginny had not totally lost conciousness, but was nearly squeezing Draco's forearm to death.

The healer led him quickly to a bed, and, using a contraption with a small straw-like thing at the end, poured some painkiller into Ginny's system.

Draco stayed in the background, troubled at the fact that he found himself incredibly concerned about the girl's well-being.

Ginny opened her eyes, feeling the pain begin to ebb, and the voice begin to fade. "Poppy?" she asked faintly.

A grey-black mist was swirling about her eyes, but she could just barely make out the healer's voice and shape.

She prayed the voice woudn't come back, and thought about what it might mean. 'I've already made my choice? Does it mean.... no, it couldn't......'

She moaned and thumped her head back into her pillow over and over until Mme. Pomfrey made her stop.

Ginny took time to look around the familiar room and her eyes came to rest on Draco, looking rather nervous.

"Did you carry me here?" she asked him.

He looked up, his expression unguarded but for a mere moment, and then his face twisted into it's usual sneer. "No, you floated. How else did you expect you got here? We were talking and then you acted as if your head was imploding. What else was I supposed to do?"

By that time, his sarcastic voice was laced with a tinge of pleading, that only she recognized. She nodded, and replied, "Well, thank you anyways."

Poppy watched the exchange, and then asked Ginny, "What happened? What did you see?"

Ginny shrugged, and replied, "It was what I heard. Said my choice had been made, or some such thing. Bloody well hurt! If it wanted it's message across, it could have done it in a lower tone."

Draco listened with interest, wondering what on earth they were talking about. 'She has voices in her head? Well, doesn't that beat all!' he thought amusedly.

"I very well think you have The Sight Ginny. Didn't your Grandmother have it?" Poppy asked.

Ginny nodded, "Yes, she did. But how come Mum doesn't have it? Or any of my hoard of brothers?"

Poppy shook her head. "Don't know dearie, but you should rest for now. I really think you should just try and meditate on it. I'll consult with the Headmaster about it."

Ginny tipped her head in thought. "Could I, by chance, go back to my rooms? I'd be more comfortable in my own bed."

Poppy bit back the refusal, and sighed, "Yes, you may. Mr. Malfoy!"

Draco's head shot up at being addressed. "Yes?"

"Do you think you could walk Ms. Weasley to her common room?"

Draco sighed, wondered why the fates hated him so, and nodded.

Ginny got up, and he took her hand, placing it at his elbow. But Ginny had a better idea of keeping balance. That, and she wanted to get the last hand in, still.

She wrapped her arm around his waist, and plopped his arm over her shoulder. Poppy was chuckling, and said her good-byes, and Ginny had to practically drag Draco out.

He was stiff as a board, and, noticing this, she spat, "Relax, would you? I don't bite, for heaven's sake!"

Draco chuckled a bit at that, but let himself relax. He found he quite liked the feel of her pressing against him, but he shook it off as quickly as possible. 'This is a Weasley, this is a Weasley' was the mantra going through his head.

"So," he started in a casual tone, "what choice was already made?"

Ginny stopped dead in her tracks, and blanched.

"What?" he asked, "What's wrong?"

Ginny started to shake a bit, but quickly got ahold of herself. 'No... it couldn't....' she sighed. 'Oh well, might as well start getting used to it. It keeps happening around him. I suppose that he's it. Fate is cruel.'

I'll leave it there. Sorry if it isn't up to par with the last chapters, but I have a severe case of writer's block, again. Plus, I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. Anyhow, I'll write the next chap ASAP. And any ideas for the next chap would be welcome!