Summary: Draco broods; Ginny decides to help; Harry gets a shock.1. Lost by StrangerWithMyFace
-SWMF (March 2001) * Draco Malfoy sat in the empty stands. Hours ago, they had been filled with screaming Hogwarts students. The roar of the spring wind rushed over head. It sounded all too much like the ghosts of those students back to taunt him. It was getting dark, only a few ribbons of fading sunlight remained in the sky, causing his silver hair to sparkle like a diamond among the green rough of the Quidditch field. He was plainly visible to anyone inside the castle, but Draco didn't care who was watching.
He couldn't believe it had happened again. He had lost again. Draco clenched his fists so tight his fingernails dug into his palms drawing a drop of blood. Damn Potter, he thought. Damn his fame. Damn his popularity. Damn his scar. Everybody loved Harry Potter. He was the boy who lived. Draco snorted, as if that was something to be proud of. Everyone he knew was alive. Although they didn't seem to realize he was alive when Potter was around.
Today was supposed to be the day. Today, Slytherin was finally going to beat Gryffindor. Today, Harry Potter would have to eat his words. It hadn't happened that way. Instead, Harry Potter was up in Gryffindor tower celebrating with all the other Gryffindor gits and Draco Malfoy was still sitting on the Quidditch field wishing he could get another chance.
Things had been looking up for Slytherin from the start. Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor's star Beaters, were not allowed to play due to a particularly insane stunt they had pulled on Professor Snape. Snape always did whatever he could to help the Slytherin team along and had made sure they would serve their detentions while they should be on the field. The Gryffindor team had surprisingly gone on with replacement Beaters, who weren't as good as the Weasley twins. The Gryffindors were getting knocked out of the sky. Harry Potter had taken a particularly nasty fall that Draco had hoped would hurt a great deal. It didn't seem to. Potter just got back on his broom as if nothing had happened. Draco couldn't hear what Madam Pomfrey did to fix him over the din of the crowd. They loved him even more for getting back on the horse.
Then everything went to hell. Draco could still see it vividly in his mind's eye. Harry was aimlessly flying in circles above the game. It was annoying how easy everything was for him. Draco had to stay perched on his broom watching the field with eagle eyes for the Golden Snitch. He refused to let Potter's display get to him. He would not lose today. He concentrated even harder. Suddenly, Potter shot downward, his form just a streak of red and brown in the air. Only then did Draco see what Potter had seen; the Snitch. He cursed and went flying after at break-neck speed but Potter had a sizeable lead on him.
Draco closed his eyes and tried to block out the images flooding back to him. It didn't ease the pain. He could still hear the cheer go through the crowd as Harry Potter effortlessly captured the Golden Snitch and secured victory for Gryffindor. He held the gleaming ball above his head like a trophy. Then everyone in the crowd gasped in unison, there was a sickening crunch as Draco hit the ground followed by unearthly silence. It wasn't enough that he had to lose, was it? He had to make an ass of himself too.
White, hot anger stirred inside him. Potter had laughed at him. Everyone else had followed suit. Trying to cling to some of his Malfoy pride, Draco had refused to let Madam Pomfrey take him to the infirmary despite the searing pain in his arm. He wouldn't let them see him cry. He would never be anything less than composed. A sadistic smile formed on his pale face. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
"Malfoy?" A timid voice called from the shadows. Draco whirled around. He hadn't realized he had company. She was dressed in a flimsy, green dress that he was almost positive was her nightgown, not that he had seen her nightgown before. A shimmery, golden shawl covered her shoulders. She clung to it tightly, trying to block out to increasingly chilly wind. The shadows swirled around her as if they wanted to caress her creamy skin. It made her fiery, red hair stand out even more in the night.
"What do you want, Weasley?" He sneered. Her face crumbled and instantly he felt a pang of guilt.
He couldn't understand it. She should have been inside celebrating with her brothers and the other Gryffindors. Maybe she had just come here to rub in? Even though she seemed genuinely concerned, Draco couldn't believe it. Ginny Weasley was the last person who should care about him right now. After all, the Weasleys were all Gryffindors and Ron Weasley was Harry Potter's best friend. Their families hated each other. The depths of the hate between his father and Ginny's father, Arthur, were truly awe-inspiring. The fistfight they had gotten into Ginny's first year wasn't even the tip of the iceberg.
Draco himself was often quite harsh with Ginny. Although at the moment he was having a hard time remembering why. She was probably the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on. Ginny had grown up since he had first met her. She was much taller and leaner. She had the grace of a ballerina and the face of an angel. Her bushy, red hair had grown into long, silky locks that ended with the slightest hint of curl.
"I...I saw you from my bedroom...I thought...you looked lonely," she whispered her voice wavering. He got the distinct impression that she had decided this was a bad idea and was about to bolt.
"Ever think I was out here alone because I wanted to be alone?"
Draco snapped at her. He regretted it as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Sometimes he couldn't control his mouth. She looked shocked, hurt and angry all at the same time. "Why don't you go back inside? Shouldn't you be celebrating?" He asked, this time more gently.
Ginny took a tentative step closer. "I don't like Quidditch that much," she answered secretively. "Don't tell my brothers."
"Oh yes," Draco forced a chuckle. "I'll try not to let that slip during my frequent, friendly conversations with your brothers."
She smiled. Her smile was like beautiful music. It seemed to be the natural state of her face, unlike Draco whose face was usually contorted into a sneer. She sat down gingerly beside him. "Do you want me to take a look at that arm?"
Draco was surprised she remembered. He looked at her incredulously. If he wasn't going to let the professionals see how badly he was hurt, he certainly wasn't going to let the enemy. Although the more he thought about it, the less calling her 'the enemy' seemed to fit. Maybe it was the caring way she was looking at him or maybe it was something else...
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't be thick, Malfoy. I'm just trying to help. I'm pretty good at healing charms." It was fitting that she would be. There was no purer power than that of a healer.
Instinctively, he pulled away from her. He didn't want her help. He didn't want anyone's help. She sighed. "Never mind. You want to bleed to death, that's your business." Her eyes danced in the moonlight. "Just let me know when the funeral is so I can find the perfect 'I told you so' bouquet of flowers."
He smirked. When had she grown a backbone? It probably could've been anytime in the few years she had been at Hogwarts. He really had never paid much attention to her. Sure, he made fun of her, but he did that to all Potter's friends. She was a mere footnote in his book of 101 Ways to Hate Harry Potter.
Ginny leaned back, making herself comfortable for the long haul. "So what are we brooding about today?" Draco didn't answer. "Quidditch?" She guessed. He mumbled something incoherently. Ginny knew what he meant though. "Ah... Harry."
Draco's gray eyes darkened visibly. "I don't want to talk about it," he grumbled. He didn't. He really didn't. Yet somehow the words refused to stay inside and poured out of him like a ocean of venom. "I just can't stand him. I just want to wipe that smug smile off his face. Everybody loves him but really what has he ever done to deserve it besides nearly getting himself and all his annoying friends killed? He could have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble if he wouldn't go sticking his nose into everything. But nobody cares if Potter breaks the rules because, he's Harry and Lord knows he's not capable of ever doing anything wrong. Perfect Potter, that's what we should call him. Let's all lie down and let him walk all over us. Then everybody hates me because I don't think he's the greatest guy who has ever walked the face of the Earth. Am I the only one who sees through him? He's not that special. Why does he always get to win? Why does he always get to be the hero? Why do I always have to lose?"
Ginny was silent. She looked straight ahead, taking in everything Draco had just said. He watched her intently trying to gauge her reaction. He hadn't meant to say all those things, especially not to her. Ginny hero-worshipped Harry. She used to follow him around like a puppy dog. Slowly, she turned her eyes on him. She seemed to be looking at him for the very first time.
He expected her to lash out at him, to yell at him and tell him that Harry wasn't that bad. But when she finally spoke, she didn't do that at all. She spoke slowly and evenly, quietly conveying her opinion on the matter whether he buy into it or not. "You shouldn't let him get to you like that. You're so busy trying to beat him that you can't actually beat him. Just remember that you have a lot of things that Harry doesn't. Don't let him make you so crazy." She smiled enigmatically. "It's doesn't suit you."
They sat in silence for a bit. Draco mulled over what she said. He didn't really like taking advice and Ginny wasn't exactly a trusted friend.
"Can I fix your arm now?" She asked impatiently finally breaking the silence.
He grudgingly allowed her to examine his arm. "I don't know why you care so much," he muttered as she gently whispered a spell. A jet of brilliant colors shot out of her wand. Instantly, his pain was gone.
Ginny turned her face up to look at him. "Maybe I'm a caring person."
Draco jerked his arm away from her. "I don't need your sympathy you know.
I'm not a charity case like Potter," he growled. He was going to add "like your whole family" but decided against it.
"Oh, we're back to Harry again," she announced sarcastically. "You think about him an awful lot. If I didn't know better, I'd say you fancy him." She crossed her arms over her chest, obviously annoyed.
Draco narrowed his eyes into slits. How dare she? He was so mad he could spit. "I'm not the one who followed him around for years even though the only time he noticed I existed was when he was telling me how not interested he was." Draco wasn't sure that sentence had made any sense, but he was angry and wanted to cut her deep.
Ginny tossed her head him indignantly. She refused to look at him. "Some people -" she began but Draco wasn't finished.
"Is that why you're down here tonight, Weasley? He wasn't paying enough attention to you and you thought you might come bother me." He assumed a false, high-pitched voice and mocked her. "Oh, maybe Draco will tell me something really embarrassing and I bring my little pearls of wisdom to Harry like a little dog bringing her master his slippers."
Draco seethed his words became increasingly violent and hate filled. His diatribe could have gone on for hours, but Ginny did something that stopped him in his tracks. She slugged him.
It wasn't a girly, playful smack but a powerful, well-placed punch that caught him in the jaw and caused him to lose his balance and fall over. He stared up at her in disbelief. Ginny was breathing heavily; her fists were still balled up, daring him to test her. She looked down at him her eyes flashing menacingly. It occurred to him that her hair was merely an extension of the fire that burned inside of her leaping out of her body.
"I'm trying my best to be civil to you, Malfoy, but obviously some people are incapable of basic, human conversation." They glared at each other until she finally calmed herself enough to speak through clenched teeth. Sudden realization crossed Ginny's face. She flushed with embarrassment. Her hand flew up to her face to cover her mouth.
"Weasley?!? What the..." Draco sputtered in shock.
"I'm sorry," she murmured as she slowly lowered herself back into her seat. "I lost my temper."
"Yeah." He rubbed his cheek. "Tell me something I don't know."
"I...I..." she searched for a way to explain and tried to help him up. "Well I grew up in a house with all boys and I had to learn how to keep them in line..." her voice trailed off. She hung her head, knowing that was no excuse.
Draco stared at her. Had she just likened him to one of the Weasley brothers? He should have been highly offended but he decided to let it go...
"I'm...I'm sorry." Her face was all pink. It was cute if you liked that sort of thing. "You made me mad. I was just trying to be nice to you-"
Draco scoffed resentfully. "Nice? You were the one who hit me."
"You," she rolled the word around in her mouth, "were the one who deserved to be hit." Her eyes sparkled and he found himself grinning at her.
They sat in silence again. Each searched for something appropriate to say. Draco noticed for the first time that the stars were out now. It must be late, he thought. He wondered if anyone in Slytherin house had noticed that he was missing. He doubted it. They were all probably angry with him for missing the Snitch. He was fairly certain, however, that Ginny's presence was missed in Gryffindor tower. Her brothers were probably sick with worry. He smiled at that thought.
"I guess we all have things that we let bother us," Ginny began referring to her earlier diagnosis of Draco's condition.
He sucked back a laugh. He never would have thought that the two of them had anything in common. He kind of liked it. "He's stupid for not wanting you," he assured her. Once again, Potter had something that he didn't deserve. "What's his problem?"
"He likes Cho Chang," she explained.
Draco racked his brain. Cho Chang? He didn't have the slightest idea who she was; she could see it on his face. Ginny wore a small smile of satisfaction. That shouldn't have made her happy, but it did.
"She's a Ravenclaw," Ginny described. "She's their Seeker." Draco made the connection and made a face that made Ginny giggle.
"I'm going to add that to my list of things that are wrong with Potter," he announced. "It's a pretty long list." He beamed at her.
Ginny's giggles bubbled over. Anyone who saw her would have thought her drunk. "She's really nice," she tried to say through her fits of laughter. She doubled up when it came out more like "she's got lice."
Draco couldn't help but snigger too. "I'll take your word for it." He liked the way she looked when she laughed, kind of like a nymph or something. He could picture her frolicking in the forest with a lyre, whatever that was.
"That was horrible of me," she chided herself when she had calmed down.
A lone strand of scarlet hair had fallen in her face. Draco took it upon himself to push it behind her ear. "You're evil at heart," he concluded. He grinned wickedly, letting her know that he liked that in a woman.
She gazed up at him, a smile still clinging to her lips. "That must be it."
All of nature was still, as if holding its breath in anticipation of what was to come next. Something was pulling Draco forward. Ginny felt like the gentle breeze on the back of her neck was pushing her toward him. It was as though everything before this had been building to this moment and, now that it was here, everything was complete. Like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle finally being snapped into place. Draco's lips were on Ginny's. Ginny's lips were on Draco's.
His hands flew up to tangle themselves in her hair, partly because he had wanted to touch it since she had appeared and partly because he needed something to hang on to lest he fall off the Earth. He pulled her even closer so that her body conformed to his. He wanted to touch her all over. She made these happy, moaning noises when he buried his head in her neck. He decided to do it again. She moaned again. He had visions of her in his bed writhing underneath him. Surprisingly, the idea didn't bother him at all. He rather liked it.
Ginny gasped. "I'm kissing Draco Malfoy," she thought. The situation was highly unbelievable yet somehow right. "I like kissing Draco Malfoy." She ran her hands along his back. He was better built that she had ever imagined. The bulky robes must have hid his body from her gazes. She wanted to explore further. She managed to undo the front of his robes with shaking fingers. Draco felt an electric shock run along his spine when she touched his bare flesh. How the hell was little Ginny Weasley making him feel this way?
"Ginny!" A frantic voice called from the darkness. Draco and Ginny reluctantly pulled a part. "Ginny!" The voice cried out again. Even if they hadn't recognized the voice, they would have known who it was. It just fit.
"Potter's come to hose us down," Draco smirked as he hastily pulled his clothing back on.
Ginny gradually turned around to watch Harry Potter's figure emerge from the blackness. He was coming quickly now that he had spotted her. Ginny was sure he hadn't seen them kissing or he wouldn't be wearing a relieved look.
"Ginny," he huffed and puffed out of breath. "We've been looking all over for you. Filch is going to have a field day if you finds you out here..." He noticed Draco for the first time. Confusion flickered across his face. "What are you doing here, Malfoy?"
Draco eyed him coolly. "I kidnapped Ginny from her room and forced her to come out here and look at the stars with me. I'm evil to the core," he grinned devilishly. Harry stood there, mouth agape looking at the odd couple. Something was going on here, he couldn't quite figure out what it was. Ginny stifled a giggle.
"Come on, Ginny." Harry held his hand out to her as if offering to pull her out of the darkness and bring her into the light. "Let's go."
Draco felt anger bubble within him. "Oh yeah, Ginny, you better go. Thank God Potter was here to save you from me. What would we do without him?" He glared at Harry. Harry glared at Draco.
The two boys were about equal in height and ability albeit, completely opposite looking. They stood, eying each other warily like two men about to brawl. If looks could kill they'd both be stabbed to death then cut into little, tiny pieces and then set on fire. One death wasn't good or painful enough.
"Oh honestly!" Ginny exclaimed. "Why don't you two just whip 'em out and get this over with. I'll go get a tape measure." The boys stared at her in shock. She slapped her hand over her mouth. "Did I say that out loud?" She asked. Ginny looked around as if searching for the real source of the voice.
Harry turned to glower at Draco. He obviously thought Draco was being a poor influence on the most innocent Weasley. Draco didn't seem at all surprised. This was par for the course as far as he was concerned. Potter blamed him for everything.
"Malfoy-" he growled.
"Enough!" Ginny cried. They both turned to look at her. Each was expecting her to tell the other one to sod off. "That's enough testosterone for one day, thank you very much." She turned to Draco. "No fighting. Sit," she commanded.
Draco never let anyone tell him what to do but he sat to appease her. It was obvious he wasn't happy about it. Something broke inside him. He couldn't believe it was happening again. She was going to go inside with Potter. He had lost again. His shoes suddenly became very interesting.
Ginny turned to Harry. "Harry," she spoke gently and deliberately. "I'll come in a moment. I'm fine, really. I just need to talk to Draco alone, all right?" Draco was pleased to see a shocked statement cross Harry's face. He nodded and turned back toward the castle, all the while throwing bewildered glances over his shoulder. Draco and Ginny?
Draco stared up at Ginny, a small smile fighting to cross his face. He tried not to let his face betray how vulnerable he was right now. She could easily rip out his heart and break it into millions of pieces. He wouldn't let himself dare hope. Telling Potter to go inside was only a small victory. She could still leave Draco and run after him.
Ginny looked down at him. The moon lit her from behind. What she did next caught him completely off guard. She grabbed both of his ears, pulling him foward to plant her lips firmly on his. She kissed him passionately for what seemed like a split second but was probably a long while. They only broke apart to come up for air. Their eyes met. Her eyes were dancing. Ginny propped her head on his shoulder. Draco held her close; they were very comfortable together. He knew now that she didn't want to go back with Potter. She had never wanted to go with Potter. She belonged here.
Draco smiled a genuine smile born out of pure bliss. He pulled Ginny in for another kiss. She had been right before. He did have something that Potter didn't. He wondered if that had been what she meant. If that was why she had come out here. Who cared about the bloody Quidditch match? Everyone would forget about that in time. This, on the other hand, really mattered. When it counted, Potter had lost. *