Chapter four

Dawn brought the sun shining through the tower window and right into Ginny’s eyes. She blinked a few times, letting her mind catch up to the present time. She was going over all the things that had happened yesterday. She wondered if maybe she should just stay in bed. She was leery of seeing what crazy things would happen to her during the course of the day. In the end, her curiosity overcame her trepidations and she sat up. That’s when she saw the ruby red rose lying on her pillow. She picked it up and was surprised to see it start to change. There was sort of a swirling of sparkles and colored lights moving around the bud. Then it started to open. The bud began to spread out but as it did so, its colors were deepening. It turned from the bright ruby color to a dark maroon, then just as quick it darkened into a smoky gray. Ginny sat in amazement as the flower turned black in her hand. After it was the color of midnight, she heard herself gasp. The petals started falling off one by one. Soon there was only one left. As it too, fell into her lap, she yelped in pain. She had been poked by a thorn! She dropped the thorny stem onto the floor and put her finger into her mouth. Oh boy, she thought, the fun is already starting.

After the weird flower incident she really felt like staying in bed all day. It was the end of the term though and she had tests to take. The Yule Ball was only a couple of nights away. Nobody had asked her to go with them, not even her old standby, Neville. She thought that Ron was taking Hermoine. She didn’t know who Harry was taking, sure wasn’t her though. Well, sitting around pining and whining wasn’t going to do her any good. She got out of bed, careful to avoid the discarded stem with her bare feet. She continued to suck on her wounded finger as she got ready for her day.

Ginny had made it through her ancient runes class, but just barely. Her finger was really hurting. When she compared it to her other fingers, it appeared to be slightly swollen. She went ahead and went to her next class. It was Divinations up on the seventh floor. By the end of that period, she wasn’t sure which hurt more, her poor finger or her poor aching head from all of Trelawney’s dire predictions. The overpowering smelly fumes about did her in today as well. Her finger was definitely swelling now. She could barely bend it. She thought that if she could just make it through her last class before lunch she would be okay. That meant going out to the greenhouses for Prof. Sprout’s herbology class.

It was really hard to control the bouncing bulbs they were transplanting, when you had a finger that was swelling up to the size of a banana. Ginny was trying her best but they kept escaping her and smacking her partner, Colin Creevey in the head. It was very painful now too, and tears were welled up in her eyes. Prof. Sprout walked by right as a bulb was ricocheting off of Colin’s nose. She was a professional wizard gardener though and swiftly caught it before it could do any more damage.

“Ms. Weasley, do you have a problem that needs Mrs. Pomfrey’s attention?” The professor asked pointing to Ginny’s wounded hand. “That looks quite nasty. Did you get bit by a shiste spider perhaps?”

“No ma’am. I was poked by a thorn this morning.” Ginny answered as a tear spilled down her cheek.

The kind hearted teacher put an arm around Ginny’s shoulders for a second before she sent her on her way to the hospital wing. By the time Ginny got to Madam Pomfrey’s office, on the second floor of the castle, she was crying full-blown. She hadn’t seen Malfoy all day but knew that he would be showing up any time since she had a bright red nose and a cucumber for a finger.

As soon as she got inside the doors to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was beside her. She lead her to a bed, all the while saying soothing words and cradling Ginny’s deformed hand. Ginny’s tears continued to fall and she had to wipe her nose on her sleeve more than once. The nurse swung her wand over Ginny’s hand and said an incantation but nothing happened. She tried again, this time touching the wand directly to the reddest part of the wound. There was no sign of any change and Ginny didn’t feel any lessening of pain. Pomfrey got a cross look and mumbled something about the strangest cases she’d ever seen.

“Excuse me, Madam Pomfrey?” Prof. McGonagall was standing in the doorway. “I’m afraid Prof. Snape needs you right away down in the potions class. It seems Neville Longbottom has been involved in some kind of mishap....again.”

“Oh dear, that poor boy.” Madam Pomfrey said shaking her head. “I don’t know how many times I’ve had to heal that child for one thing or another. I’m sorry, Ginny. I will back up just as soon as I can. You lay back and rest while I’m gone.” Then she stepped over to the bed next to Ginny‘s. The white curtains were drawn around it and whoever it was must have been asleep because the nurse didn’t say anything to them. She just motioned for Ginny to be quiet and left the room with Prof. McGonagall.

Ginny laid back with her eyes closed and tried to not think about the pain in her hand. She tried to keep her mind on her test coming up in Arithmancy, but it kept straying. She couldn’t help but think about the Yule Ball. This was only the third year that the school had had one. The first one was two years ago when they held the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It was supposed to be a one time thing for that special event. Everyone enjoyed it so much though, that they decided to continue having them in the coming years. She had attended with Neville both of the previous years, not because they liked each other particularly. More so because neither of them had anybody else to go with. Neville was going with Megan Jones this year. She was a very nice girl from the Hufflepuff house. She was happy for him, but a bit melancholy about not having anyone to attend with now. She wondered who Draco was taking.

“So, what did you do to yourself? Were you trying to do a spell to make Potter ask you to the Yule Ball? Did it backfire and you keep asking yourself to go over and over and over?” an all-too-familiar voice asked from the bed next to her.

“Speak of the devil.” Ginny said, trying to hide her hand in the folds of her blanket.

“Oh come now, don’t try to flatter me like that,” Draco said hopping off of his bed and moving to sit on hers.

Ginny opened her eyes wide as she felt his weight pushing down the bed. He was just sitting there, smiling at her, like he was in her bed everyday. She really didn’t want to explore the instant thought of how good that sounded.

“What are you doing here, Malfoy? You aren’t all bloody and bruised so I guess nobody gave you the beating you deserve.” Ginny said with an evil grin.

Draco really liked that look on her. He smiled and held up his hand. Ginny’s jaw dropped. It looked almost identical to her own red, lumpy hand. Slowly she raised up her hand from under the covers. This time his mouth dropped in surprise.

“Did you” they both started at once. “How did” they began again. Draco waited before speaking again so he could hear what she had to say.

“When I woke up this morning, there was a rose on my pillow...” Ginny began. At this point Draco continued, “When you picked it up it started to change colors and when it was completely black...” Ginny finished “the petals all fell off and then a thorn poked me.”

They both stared at each other for a moment. Finally Draco asked, “Did you get a letter the night before last warning you to stay away from me?”

Ginny looked startled, “Yes, did you get one, warning you to keep away from me?” she asked in a squeaky voice.

Draco nodded. He reached out and took her uninjured hand with his. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

If Ginny wasn’t already in emotional turmoil, she probably would have passed out from the ‘s’ word coming out of Draco’s mouth. The way it was though, nothing could shock her. Well, if Snape came dancing through the room wearing a pink tutu she might have been a little bit surprised. She laughed at that mental image. Draco brushed a stray curl away from her eyes. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

When his fingers skimmed her cheek, she felt flushed. She felt like several dozen red-hot butterflies were in her stomach. Her skin was tingly and her fingers ached to touch him. One hand ached already, she conceded, but the other one was just itching to run through his hair. Draco must have felt it too, because he leaned over then and lightly brushed his lips to hers. She leaned into him and her evil hand had its way with his soft hair. He slipped a hand behind her neck and brought her closer to him. Ginny had never kissed anyone like this. Her tongue darted out to taste him and was only too happy to concede to his experience when he took it farther. When the breathtaking kiss was over he continued to hold her head to his. They sat with their foreheads touching, sensing each other’s desire to do more. It was several seconds later when Ginny realized that her hand didn’t hurt anymore. She sat back and looked at the place that had been red and swollen just a little bit ago. You couldn’t tell where it had been. Her finger was perfectly normal. She looked over at Draco’s and it was the same. It looked just fine. Like the wound had never even existed.

“Draco, what’s going on?” Ginny whispered grabbing his hand to feel where the affected area should be.

“I don’t know.” Draco said, staring in amazement at their arms. He looked into Ginny’s clear blue eyes and added, “I have no idea.”

It was then that they heard voices coming down the hall. It sounded like Madam Pomfrey was returning with Neville.

Draco leaned close to Ginny, “Meet me in the library right after dinner tonight.” He brushed a kiss quickly behind her ear and then moved back to his bed. It took about a half an hour to convince the nurse that they were alright before she would let them return to class. They each went their separate ways in the hall with more than one backward glance at the others departing form as they walked away.