Chapter 22
To Hogsmeade
~*~*~
It had become a running joke between them that he sent her something that was designed to make her fall for him. She would always figure out what it was and come up with a way to get him back.
He sent her perfume that caused a temporary state of dreaminess over the last person who had kissed her. She read the ingredients on the label and figured it out before she had sprayed any onto herself. She then sent a thank you note back to him carefully dipped in the perfume so the moment he opened it he would be the one stuck in a state of dreaminess over her for four hours. He had replied that it didn’t work on him as he was already in such a state twenty-four hours a day.
Another day he sent her a music box. She had Colin open the lid at which point a cloud of pixie dust exploded directly into Colin’s face. She stood back laughing with her mouth covered so she wouldn’t breath any of the magical powder in. He appeared to go into a daze and then she proceeded to follow as he made his way to the Great Hall. She laughed when he found Draco in the Great Hall and started singing the quaint little song that had been in the music box in an amazingly beautiful, rich, tenor voice:
“Let me call you sweetheart,
I’m in love with you
Let me hear you whisper
That you love me too
Keep the love light glowing
In your eyes so blue
Let me call you sweetheart,
I’m in love with you!”
At the end of the song Colin shouted at the top of his lungs, “I love you Draco Malfoy!” with great gusto, to which Draco replied with an amused grin on his face. “Sorry, Creevey, you’re not my type.” The entire Great Hall burst into laughter.
Apparently the powder had been enchanted so whoever got a face full of the pixie dust would declare their undying love for the sender of the gift. She would have felt bad for Colin, except she felt he had a few things coming to him for being obnoxious to her in the past.
After his declaration of love Colin snapped out of the trance he had been in and turned red with embarrassment. Draco, however, managed to save him a little face by sneering and announcing loudly to everyone in the Great Hall, “It seems someone has played a rather dastardly practical joke on you, Creevey. I suggest you seek them out and get your revenge.” He placed a quick pointed glance in Ginny’s direction.
Colin swore never to open any of her packages again. He was upset at Blaise for finding the whole incident hilarious and furious with her for allowing it to happen.
After that he sent her a quill that would only write the words Draco + Ginny, or DSM + GMW or one form of his name plus hers with little drawings of cupids and hearts. She had accidentally used the quill in History of Magic while attempting to write notes on the Magic and Muggle Separation Act. During her next Advanced Potions class she switch the quill with one of Draco’s. He began writing with it just as Snape walked by to check on the progression of the test they were taking.
“If you please, Mr. Malfoy, this is a test and I’d rather you not scribble ridiculous sentiments all over it,” Snape sneered upon seeing the various heart doodles that had covered the paper. He made that test disappear and made a clean piece of parchment reappear. “Start again.”
She bit her lip to keep from laughing when Draco shot a look of mock anger in her direction.
All of the gifts had been delivered via her new pet Oya. The miniature liondragon followed her practically everywhere and would either sit perched on her shoulder or wrapped itself around her wrist when it was sleeping or bored. There were times when she would occasionally disappear for a period of time, but would always reappear just when Ginny was about to go to bed. The dragon would always take her spot on Ginny’s wrist.
Oya was also useful for delivering short messages for places they would meet, as they had quite a few snogging sessions. She would always leave these sessions feeling giddy and excited about the next time they would meet. They would barely speak a word to each other, opting to use their mouthes for a better purpose. She was surprised that he had yet to make any attempt at anything more than kissing. Often times, when he seemed to want to go any further, he would stop and indicate that it would probably be best that they meet again later.
It was for this reason that she really began to wonder about the arrangement they had. He was actually honoring her demand that nothing more than snogging was allowed. She was becoming even more deliriously infatuated with him, not less, with each passing day.
As the arrival of the first Hogsmeade visit approached she was starting to panic. It would have been one thing if she had to prance around Hogsmeade with Draco as the loser of some insidious bet. It would have been easy to spend the entire time casting hexes at him or trying to run into Ron and Harry so they would try to hex him. But it was quite another when she was finding it difficult to feel anything like animosity toward him.
She was in the library studying and finding it difficult to concentrate. After reading the same paragraph over four times and not absorbing a single word of it, she laid her head on the book and groaned softly in frustration.
“Problems?”
Ginny popped up to see Blaise sitting across from her. She sighed. “Just having trouble studying.”
He nodded in understanding. Ginny made another attempt at reading the paragraph, but had second thoughts and flipped her book shut. Oya, who had been sleeping soundly on the table, jumped at the sound.
“Blaise, tell him that I’m not going with him tomorrow.”
Blaise looked at her in confusion. “I don’t think he’ll agree with you, Gin.”
“I don’t care whether he does or not. I can’t go with him.”
“Why not?” he inquired.
“You wouldn’t understand. Just tell him, please?”
“I think I might understand better than you think,” he replied leaning back in his chair.
Ginny stared at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not she should discuss anything with Blaise. Beyond the point of frustration with herself she sighed and said, “What would everyone think? Do you have any idea what Ron and Harry would do to him? I can’t have them hexing him into a slug again. They’d get a whole group of people together and he’d be toast! They wouldn’t believe that I actually li-” she started and then bit back the word like, but it was too late.
“So you do like him,” Blaise said with a note of satisfaction in his voice.
She dropped her head on her book again and mumbled a quiet, yet strained, “Maybe.”
“You know,” he said mockingly, “the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.”
She sat up again. “But this is a huge problem! I can’t like him!”
“Then why, in Merlin’s name, have you been sneaking off everywhere snogging him for the past few weeks?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” she said again.
“Honestly, I can’t say that I blame you,” he said with a puckish smirk.
Ginny shook her head and laughed softly. “Really. You and Colin are both terrible.”
“You should go with him and damn everyone who doesn’t like it. He’s crazy about you. I’ve never seen him so insane over any girl, and that’s saying something because, as I’m sure you know, there’s been quite a few of them.”
“But, Blaise – “ she started, ready to make another argument as to why it wasn’t possible. She stopped in mid-sentence as an idea popped into her head. “You and Colin are going together, right?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes. Funny, but it was Draco who actually convinced me that I should go,” he said chortling. “Don’t tell Colin this, but I was honestly a bit concerned about going. I wasn’t ready to be seen with him, you know. And I’m honestly not sure that I’m ready for people to know about me.”
Ginny looked as if a light bulb had just popped up over her head. “Then this is perfect! You and Colin can go with me and Draco and no one will think that I’m with him or you’re with Colin.”
“Well, I suppose that would be an idea. Then it’d be like a double date.”
“And with you and Colin there, I wouldn’t be alone with him and no one would have to assume that you and Colin are together. As far as anyone is concerned we’re just hanging out, right?” It sounded good, but she wondered if that was true. She had no control over what people thought and Ron and Harry still might not like that Draco was in the same establishment as well as possibly at the same table as her, but at least Colin would be there to hopefully give them some piece of mind.
Oya, who had been listening intently to the conversation suddenly hopped up into the air and did a loop. Ginny just gave Oya a strange look.
“Then I guess we’re going to Hogsmeade together,” Blaise said after a moment of thought. He gave her a somewhat relieved smile.
“This’ll be great!” she said, feeling a little relieved as well. Oya flew up to her shoulder and nudged her head to the left just as she heard the distinct noise of her brother clearing his throat. Why did he always manage to sneak up on her like that? Apparently Oya was trying to tell her that he was approaching.
“Yes, Ron?” she said trying not to sound too exasperated. She hoped that he hadn’t heard too much of their conversation.
“I just wanted a word with Zabini, alone,” he said, his tone full of seriousness. Blaise shrugged his shoulders slightly as if it were no big deal to him. He got up and followed Ron to a spot out of Ginny’s earshot. She watched Ron calmly (or so he appeared) tell Blaise something. Blaise glanced her way and gave her a wink and a grin before turning to Ron. There was another brief exchange and Blaise returned to the table while Ron left the library, seemingly satisfied.
“What in Merlin’s name was that all about?” Ginny didn’t know whether she should be panicking or hunting Ron down to curse him for eavesdropping.
Blaise laughed. “Well, I think that the idea of us just hanging out is out of the question.”
“What did he say?” she asked, disappointment evident in her voice.
Blaise was still laughing. “He said that he respects your decision to date me, but he also mentioned something about breaking my….ahem…wand if I break your…uh… heart.”
“He thinks that….that…you…and me…?” she started laughing with Blaise at the ludicrousness of the thought. “So I guess it’s a date then.”
~*~*~
The next morning, Draco met Ginny at the front doors and was only mildly surprised to see Blaise was standing next to her. He assumed Blaise was waiting on Colin before deciding to head to Hogsmeade.
He gave Ginny a smile. “I see that I don’t have to use an Imperius on you,” he teased.
“If you even think about casting a spell on Ginny you’ll be a slug again in no time, Malfoy.”
He turned to see Harry glaring at him. He cocked his head and gave Harry a lopsided grin as Harry continued his threat. “Of course, as you know, Ginny is also capable of a few nasty hexes, so watch it, Ferret.”
“I was only kidding, Potter. Don’t get your bloomers in a bunch. Besides, she’s going willingly with - ”
“- with Blaise,” Ginny interrupted quickly, though she showed no sign of panic. “Don’t worry, Malfoy. Blaise convinced me to go with him to Hogsmeade without your assistance.”
“So am I to go alone?” he said, sarcasm tinged his tone. He saw that she was still obviously trying to hide the fact that she liked him and he was incredibly entertained by her acting abilities.
“I’ll go with you! All you had to do was ask, Draco, darling.” Draco’s head dropped as he heard Pansy chime in.
“I thought you were going with Malfoy because you lost the bet?” Hermione Granger had apparently arrived in time to hear that Ginny was going with Blaise.
“Bet? What bloody bet!” Ron was close behind. Hermione had clapped her hand over her mouth after realizing that she had said something that she ought not have.
“The bet she lost playing Quidditch against Draco,” Colin said with an amused smirk as he also arrived.
“Why the bloody hell would you want Ginny to go to Hogsmeade with you!” Ron was beginning to turn an uncomely shade of purple.
“Because I – ,” Draco began calmly, but was
“He wanted to parade me around like some type of trophy. He was only going to do it to provoke you guys,” Ginny covered with a very convincing note of bitterness. “But Blaise said he’d come with me so that’s not going to happen.”
“So you’re going with Malfoy and Zabini? Ginny, you do realize they’re both in Slytherin! They’ve probably got some type of scheme -,” Ron was almost on the verge of screaming. Draco was beginning to find the whole situation extremely amusing.
“And that’s why I’m going with Ginny,” Colin said before Ron could go into his conspiracy theory.
Ron was giving everyone around him death glares. “Ginny, you don’t have to do this.”
“Ron, I lost the bet, fair and square, and I’m fulfilling my end,” Ginny said firmly.
“I’d hardly believe anything Ferret does is fair,” Harry muttered.
“Don’t worry, Harry, I made sure he got a bludger to the stomach for winning. Something I’m sure I can repeat in the first match against Slytherin next week,” she said giving both Draco and Harry a devious smile. “Now, if you don’t mind I have a date.”
“Ginny -,” Ron began with an almost pleading voice.
“Ron,” she returned with warning. “Remember our conversation? I’m sure Hermione would just love to hear about – ”
“ – OKAY! I got it, Gin,” Ron interrupted before she could reveal any more. He was turning from the puce color to a shade closer to the color of his hair. Then he turned to Blaise and said,
“Remember what I told you. I meant it.” He just shot Draco a glare before Hermione decided it would be best to sign out with Filch quickly and drag him out the door before they all got detention for an all-out jinxing war.
“Dracooo, why don’t you just forget about making her go through with the bet and just come to Hogsmeade with me,” Pansy said as Hermione and Ron left.
“I have a debt to collect, Pansy. I’m sure Max would be happy to escort you to Hogsmeade,” he said politely. Max Fletcher had just gotten in line for the Hogsmeade visit and looked positively pleased at the thought of getting back together with Pansy. If looks could kill, Pansy would have been an assassin, and both Draco and Ginny would have been dead.
“Fine,” she said huffily. “Come on, Maxi,” she cooed taking him by the arm. “Let’s leave these ingrates. At least you appreciate me. I should have never left you.” Draco was monumentally relieved that they had exited.
“Malfoy, I’m warning you. If you try anything in Hogsmeade, and I mean anything, you will regret it,” Harry threatened again.
“Potter, you don’t scare me. Save it for the Quidditch match. You’ll need it. I’ve got a Pegasus Vortex, this year,” he said arrogantly.
“Whatever, Malfoy. My team is going beat your team to a bloody pulp. If Gin sent a Bludger to your stomach then you’ve only got a taste of what she can do. I’d watch it if I were you,” Harry responded with his eyes narrowed.
“Harry, I’ll be fine,” Ginny said in a comforting tone. Draco again felt a slight stab of jealousy whenever she spoke to him. She always seemed to treat him like he was a fragile piece glass that was about to break. She always seemed overly concerned with his feelings. For a moment Draco wondered if she gave a damn about his feelings, but quickly removed the thought from his head.
He knew that she didn’t want to admit that she liked him, even to herself. He could hardly blame her for not wanting anyone else to know either. She was so deliciously deceptive that he couldn’t help but admire her even more, if it was possible.
He found it marvelous how she had handled the entire confrontation. Her brain worked quickly and was able to control the whole situation without anyone actually throwing a hex. He wasn’t sure how Blaise ended up being her date to Hogsmead, and what Ron meant about his remark about ‘remembering what he had said’ to Blaise so he was obviously going to require an explanation from either Ginny or Blaise as to how they had ended up on this bizarre double date. Nonetheless, he was wholly amused.
He would have been happy to spend time alone with her, but having Blaise and Colin tag along did have its advantages. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy their snogging sessions, but he wanted her to know that it wasn’t all that he was after. Another session with his Headhealer revealed that most girls he ‘dated’ apparently rarely stimulated him intellectually and therefore was one of the reasons he never stayed with a girl too long. The other reason was that his father set a poor example of how to treat women. Until now, he considered anyone of the opposite sex below him. Ginny, he considered his equal. She wasn’t easily manipulated.
Ginny, Colin, Draco and Blaise finally signed out and entered a carriage together. Ginny and Blaise made their explanations about the double date scenario they had created to avoid any further problems in Hogsmeade.
It had never actually concerned him to be seen with Ginny, but he was aware of her need to keep their relationship secret (especially since it only seemed to consist of snogging session). She had actually been right, to some extent, when she made mention of the fact that he wanted to go to Hogsmeade with her to provoke Harry and Ron. He was still amused by their reaction to finding out she was going to Hogsmeade with not one, but two Slytherin boys. But most of all he just wanted to spend time with her.
~*~*~
To Hogsmeade
~*~*~
It had become a running joke between them that he sent her something that was designed to make her fall for him. She would always figure out what it was and come up with a way to get him back.
He sent her perfume that caused a temporary state of dreaminess over the last person who had kissed her. She read the ingredients on the label and figured it out before she had sprayed any onto herself. She then sent a thank you note back to him carefully dipped in the perfume so the moment he opened it he would be the one stuck in a state of dreaminess over her for four hours. He had replied that it didn’t work on him as he was already in such a state twenty-four hours a day.
Another day he sent her a music box. She had Colin open the lid at which point a cloud of pixie dust exploded directly into Colin’s face. She stood back laughing with her mouth covered so she wouldn’t breath any of the magical powder in. He appeared to go into a daze and then she proceeded to follow as he made his way to the Great Hall. She laughed when he found Draco in the Great Hall and started singing the quaint little song that had been in the music box in an amazingly beautiful, rich, tenor voice:
“Let me call you sweetheart,
I’m in love with you
Let me hear you whisper
That you love me too
Keep the love light glowing
In your eyes so blue
Let me call you sweetheart,
I’m in love with you!”
At the end of the song Colin shouted at the top of his lungs, “I love you Draco Malfoy!” with great gusto, to which Draco replied with an amused grin on his face. “Sorry, Creevey, you’re not my type.” The entire Great Hall burst into laughter.
Apparently the powder had been enchanted so whoever got a face full of the pixie dust would declare their undying love for the sender of the gift. She would have felt bad for Colin, except she felt he had a few things coming to him for being obnoxious to her in the past.
After his declaration of love Colin snapped out of the trance he had been in and turned red with embarrassment. Draco, however, managed to save him a little face by sneering and announcing loudly to everyone in the Great Hall, “It seems someone has played a rather dastardly practical joke on you, Creevey. I suggest you seek them out and get your revenge.” He placed a quick pointed glance in Ginny’s direction.
Colin swore never to open any of her packages again. He was upset at Blaise for finding the whole incident hilarious and furious with her for allowing it to happen.
After that he sent her a quill that would only write the words Draco + Ginny, or DSM + GMW or one form of his name plus hers with little drawings of cupids and hearts. She had accidentally used the quill in History of Magic while attempting to write notes on the Magic and Muggle Separation Act. During her next Advanced Potions class she switch the quill with one of Draco’s. He began writing with it just as Snape walked by to check on the progression of the test they were taking.
“If you please, Mr. Malfoy, this is a test and I’d rather you not scribble ridiculous sentiments all over it,” Snape sneered upon seeing the various heart doodles that had covered the paper. He made that test disappear and made a clean piece of parchment reappear. “Start again.”
She bit her lip to keep from laughing when Draco shot a look of mock anger in her direction.
All of the gifts had been delivered via her new pet Oya. The miniature liondragon followed her practically everywhere and would either sit perched on her shoulder or wrapped itself around her wrist when it was sleeping or bored. There were times when she would occasionally disappear for a period of time, but would always reappear just when Ginny was about to go to bed. The dragon would always take her spot on Ginny’s wrist.
Oya was also useful for delivering short messages for places they would meet, as they had quite a few snogging sessions. She would always leave these sessions feeling giddy and excited about the next time they would meet. They would barely speak a word to each other, opting to use their mouthes for a better purpose. She was surprised that he had yet to make any attempt at anything more than kissing. Often times, when he seemed to want to go any further, he would stop and indicate that it would probably be best that they meet again later.
It was for this reason that she really began to wonder about the arrangement they had. He was actually honoring her demand that nothing more than snogging was allowed. She was becoming even more deliriously infatuated with him, not less, with each passing day.
As the arrival of the first Hogsmeade visit approached she was starting to panic. It would have been one thing if she had to prance around Hogsmeade with Draco as the loser of some insidious bet. It would have been easy to spend the entire time casting hexes at him or trying to run into Ron and Harry so they would try to hex him. But it was quite another when she was finding it difficult to feel anything like animosity toward him.
She was in the library studying and finding it difficult to concentrate. After reading the same paragraph over four times and not absorbing a single word of it, she laid her head on the book and groaned softly in frustration.
“Problems?”
Ginny popped up to see Blaise sitting across from her. She sighed. “Just having trouble studying.”
He nodded in understanding. Ginny made another attempt at reading the paragraph, but had second thoughts and flipped her book shut. Oya, who had been sleeping soundly on the table, jumped at the sound.
“Blaise, tell him that I’m not going with him tomorrow.”
Blaise looked at her in confusion. “I don’t think he’ll agree with you, Gin.”
“I don’t care whether he does or not. I can’t go with him.”
“Why not?” he inquired.
“You wouldn’t understand. Just tell him, please?”
“I think I might understand better than you think,” he replied leaning back in his chair.
Ginny stared at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not she should discuss anything with Blaise. Beyond the point of frustration with herself she sighed and said, “What would everyone think? Do you have any idea what Ron and Harry would do to him? I can’t have them hexing him into a slug again. They’d get a whole group of people together and he’d be toast! They wouldn’t believe that I actually li-” she started and then bit back the word like, but it was too late.
“So you do like him,” Blaise said with a note of satisfaction in his voice.
She dropped her head on her book again and mumbled a quiet, yet strained, “Maybe.”
“You know,” he said mockingly, “the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.”
She sat up again. “But this is a huge problem! I can’t like him!”
“Then why, in Merlin’s name, have you been sneaking off everywhere snogging him for the past few weeks?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” she said again.
“Honestly, I can’t say that I blame you,” he said with a puckish smirk.
Ginny shook her head and laughed softly. “Really. You and Colin are both terrible.”
“You should go with him and damn everyone who doesn’t like it. He’s crazy about you. I’ve never seen him so insane over any girl, and that’s saying something because, as I’m sure you know, there’s been quite a few of them.”
“But, Blaise – “ she started, ready to make another argument as to why it wasn’t possible. She stopped in mid-sentence as an idea popped into her head. “You and Colin are going together, right?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes. Funny, but it was Draco who actually convinced me that I should go,” he said chortling. “Don’t tell Colin this, but I was honestly a bit concerned about going. I wasn’t ready to be seen with him, you know. And I’m honestly not sure that I’m ready for people to know about me.”
Ginny looked as if a light bulb had just popped up over her head. “Then this is perfect! You and Colin can go with me and Draco and no one will think that I’m with him or you’re with Colin.”
“Well, I suppose that would be an idea. Then it’d be like a double date.”
“And with you and Colin there, I wouldn’t be alone with him and no one would have to assume that you and Colin are together. As far as anyone is concerned we’re just hanging out, right?” It sounded good, but she wondered if that was true. She had no control over what people thought and Ron and Harry still might not like that Draco was in the same establishment as well as possibly at the same table as her, but at least Colin would be there to hopefully give them some piece of mind.
Oya, who had been listening intently to the conversation suddenly hopped up into the air and did a loop. Ginny just gave Oya a strange look.
“Then I guess we’re going to Hogsmeade together,” Blaise said after a moment of thought. He gave her a somewhat relieved smile.
“This’ll be great!” she said, feeling a little relieved as well. Oya flew up to her shoulder and nudged her head to the left just as she heard the distinct noise of her brother clearing his throat. Why did he always manage to sneak up on her like that? Apparently Oya was trying to tell her that he was approaching.
“Yes, Ron?” she said trying not to sound too exasperated. She hoped that he hadn’t heard too much of their conversation.
“I just wanted a word with Zabini, alone,” he said, his tone full of seriousness. Blaise shrugged his shoulders slightly as if it were no big deal to him. He got up and followed Ron to a spot out of Ginny’s earshot. She watched Ron calmly (or so he appeared) tell Blaise something. Blaise glanced her way and gave her a wink and a grin before turning to Ron. There was another brief exchange and Blaise returned to the table while Ron left the library, seemingly satisfied.
“What in Merlin’s name was that all about?” Ginny didn’t know whether she should be panicking or hunting Ron down to curse him for eavesdropping.
Blaise laughed. “Well, I think that the idea of us just hanging out is out of the question.”
“What did he say?” she asked, disappointment evident in her voice.
Blaise was still laughing. “He said that he respects your decision to date me, but he also mentioned something about breaking my….ahem…wand if I break your…uh… heart.”
“He thinks that….that…you…and me…?” she started laughing with Blaise at the ludicrousness of the thought. “So I guess it’s a date then.”
~*~*~
The next morning, Draco met Ginny at the front doors and was only mildly surprised to see Blaise was standing next to her. He assumed Blaise was waiting on Colin before deciding to head to Hogsmeade.
He gave Ginny a smile. “I see that I don’t have to use an Imperius on you,” he teased.
“If you even think about casting a spell on Ginny you’ll be a slug again in no time, Malfoy.”
He turned to see Harry glaring at him. He cocked his head and gave Harry a lopsided grin as Harry continued his threat. “Of course, as you know, Ginny is also capable of a few nasty hexes, so watch it, Ferret.”
“I was only kidding, Potter. Don’t get your bloomers in a bunch. Besides, she’s going willingly with - ”
“- with Blaise,” Ginny interrupted quickly, though she showed no sign of panic. “Don’t worry, Malfoy. Blaise convinced me to go with him to Hogsmeade without your assistance.”
“So am I to go alone?” he said, sarcasm tinged his tone. He saw that she was still obviously trying to hide the fact that she liked him and he was incredibly entertained by her acting abilities.
“I’ll go with you! All you had to do was ask, Draco, darling.” Draco’s head dropped as he heard Pansy chime in.
“I thought you were going with Malfoy because you lost the bet?” Hermione Granger had apparently arrived in time to hear that Ginny was going with Blaise.
“Bet? What bloody bet!” Ron was close behind. Hermione had clapped her hand over her mouth after realizing that she had said something that she ought not have.
“The bet she lost playing Quidditch against Draco,” Colin said with an amused smirk as he also arrived.
“Why the bloody hell would you want Ginny to go to Hogsmeade with you!” Ron was beginning to turn an uncomely shade of purple.
“Because I – ,” Draco began calmly, but was
“He wanted to parade me around like some type of trophy. He was only going to do it to provoke you guys,” Ginny covered with a very convincing note of bitterness. “But Blaise said he’d come with me so that’s not going to happen.”
“So you’re going with Malfoy and Zabini? Ginny, you do realize they’re both in Slytherin! They’ve probably got some type of scheme -,” Ron was almost on the verge of screaming. Draco was beginning to find the whole situation extremely amusing.
“And that’s why I’m going with Ginny,” Colin said before Ron could go into his conspiracy theory.
Ron was giving everyone around him death glares. “Ginny, you don’t have to do this.”
“Ron, I lost the bet, fair and square, and I’m fulfilling my end,” Ginny said firmly.
“I’d hardly believe anything Ferret does is fair,” Harry muttered.
“Don’t worry, Harry, I made sure he got a bludger to the stomach for winning. Something I’m sure I can repeat in the first match against Slytherin next week,” she said giving both Draco and Harry a devious smile. “Now, if you don’t mind I have a date.”
“Ginny -,” Ron began with an almost pleading voice.
“Ron,” she returned with warning. “Remember our conversation? I’m sure Hermione would just love to hear about – ”
“ – OKAY! I got it, Gin,” Ron interrupted before she could reveal any more. He was turning from the puce color to a shade closer to the color of his hair. Then he turned to Blaise and said,
“Remember what I told you. I meant it.” He just shot Draco a glare before Hermione decided it would be best to sign out with Filch quickly and drag him out the door before they all got detention for an all-out jinxing war.
“Dracooo, why don’t you just forget about making her go through with the bet and just come to Hogsmeade with me,” Pansy said as Hermione and Ron left.
“I have a debt to collect, Pansy. I’m sure Max would be happy to escort you to Hogsmeade,” he said politely. Max Fletcher had just gotten in line for the Hogsmeade visit and looked positively pleased at the thought of getting back together with Pansy. If looks could kill, Pansy would have been an assassin, and both Draco and Ginny would have been dead.
“Fine,” she said huffily. “Come on, Maxi,” she cooed taking him by the arm. “Let’s leave these ingrates. At least you appreciate me. I should have never left you.” Draco was monumentally relieved that they had exited.
“Malfoy, I’m warning you. If you try anything in Hogsmeade, and I mean anything, you will regret it,” Harry threatened again.
“Potter, you don’t scare me. Save it for the Quidditch match. You’ll need it. I’ve got a Pegasus Vortex, this year,” he said arrogantly.
“Whatever, Malfoy. My team is going beat your team to a bloody pulp. If Gin sent a Bludger to your stomach then you’ve only got a taste of what she can do. I’d watch it if I were you,” Harry responded with his eyes narrowed.
“Harry, I’ll be fine,” Ginny said in a comforting tone. Draco again felt a slight stab of jealousy whenever she spoke to him. She always seemed to treat him like he was a fragile piece glass that was about to break. She always seemed overly concerned with his feelings. For a moment Draco wondered if she gave a damn about his feelings, but quickly removed the thought from his head.
He knew that she didn’t want to admit that she liked him, even to herself. He could hardly blame her for not wanting anyone else to know either. She was so deliciously deceptive that he couldn’t help but admire her even more, if it was possible.
He found it marvelous how she had handled the entire confrontation. Her brain worked quickly and was able to control the whole situation without anyone actually throwing a hex. He wasn’t sure how Blaise ended up being her date to Hogsmead, and what Ron meant about his remark about ‘remembering what he had said’ to Blaise so he was obviously going to require an explanation from either Ginny or Blaise as to how they had ended up on this bizarre double date. Nonetheless, he was wholly amused.
He would have been happy to spend time alone with her, but having Blaise and Colin tag along did have its advantages. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy their snogging sessions, but he wanted her to know that it wasn’t all that he was after. Another session with his Headhealer revealed that most girls he ‘dated’ apparently rarely stimulated him intellectually and therefore was one of the reasons he never stayed with a girl too long. The other reason was that his father set a poor example of how to treat women. Until now, he considered anyone of the opposite sex below him. Ginny, he considered his equal. She wasn’t easily manipulated.
Ginny, Colin, Draco and Blaise finally signed out and entered a carriage together. Ginny and Blaise made their explanations about the double date scenario they had created to avoid any further problems in Hogsmeade.
It had never actually concerned him to be seen with Ginny, but he was aware of her need to keep their relationship secret (especially since it only seemed to consist of snogging session). She had actually been right, to some extent, when she made mention of the fact that he wanted to go to Hogsmeade with her to provoke Harry and Ron. He was still amused by their reaction to finding out she was going to Hogsmeade with not one, but two Slytherin boys. But most of all he just wanted to spend time with her.
~*~*~
Author notes: *The song 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart' was written by Beth Slater Whitson, not me, in case it wasn't obvious. I just borrowed it for this particular scene for amusement purposes. :)
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