Chapter 8
When they reached the Great Hall, Draco once again found himself seated between Ginny and Colin Creevey. He quickly filled his plate and began to eat. When Hermione passed Ginny an actual itinerary of the shopping trip for next Saturday, he smirked and whispered in Ginny’s ear, “I thought you were joking about the itinerary.”
Ginny shook her head and smiled. Draco rolled his eyes and saw that Colin was making a great show of looking up at the ceiling all around the room. “What are you looking for?” Draco asked even though he knew he was probably being set up.
Colin smiled at him. “I don’t know. A Slytherin is voluntarily sitting at the Gryffindor table. I was just sure that there would be winged pigs up there somewhere.”
Draco scowled and Colin and his friends laughed. Leaning over to Ginny he whispered, “I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”
Ginny quickly finished her food, and said goodbye to Ron and Hermione. Then, she let Draco pull her out of the Great Hall. They started walking towards his room, and then he changed directions. She realized they must be headed to her room for her to pick up a few things. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she said the password and started to pull him inside the Common Room. He stopped walking, and she looked back at him. “I’ll wait out here,” he explained.
“Why?”
“Because, it doesn’t feel right to follow you in there,” he said with a shrug.
Ginny raised her eyebrows at him. “Alright, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Draco stood in the hallway and thought about the approaching Christmas shopping trip. This line of thought led to him wondering how the whole boyfriend thing worked at Christmas. He assumed they would be exchanging presents, but he didn’t know if he would actually have to go to her house, much less meet her six brothers. God forbid she wanted to come to Malfoy Manor to meet his family. His mother was kind hearted, while his father was mostly polite. Then, he realized, there was the Christmas Ball to consider.
He cringed when he thought about the Christmas Ball. Everyone dressed up in their best formal wear, and then the sport of vicious backbiting ensued. Pansy, of course, was the reigning champion, so she was always entertaining to be around. He assumed Blaise would be taking her this year, given their current situation.
Frowning, he realized that if he didn’t take Ginny, her feelings would probably be hurt. But if he took her, she would be subjected to a truly unenjoyable evening. Maybe, he thought, he should ask Blaise and Pansy’s opinion on the whole thing.
Ginny emerged from the portrait hole and smiled at him. “I think I’ve got everything. “
Draco reached out and grabbed the bag she was carrying and they walked back to his rooms. Blaise and Pansy were arguing on the couch about something, so they went into his room and Ginny started sorting through her bag to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. When she pulled out her textbook, a letter fell out. “I wonder what this is?” she said as she opened it.
Draco, who had been clearing out a drawer in his dresser for her, looked over to see what she was talking about. “If that is a letter from a secret admirer, I am going to put all of my things back in this drawer.”
Ginny smiled as she read the letter. “No, it’s a letter from Ron. He wants me to buy something for Hermione when we go on the shopping trip. He says that he realized, after he looked at her itinerary, that he wouldn’t be able to get away from her long enough to get what he wanted.”
Draco shook his head trying to imagine dating someone like Granger. “So what are you supposed to sneak off and buy for her, a set of books?”
“No, it’s actually quite romantic. He wants to buy her an ID bracelet.”
After turning around to see if she was joking, which apparently she was not, he had to ask, “How is an ID bracelet romantic? Diamonds I could understand, but an ID bracelet?”
Ginny smiled as she put the letter back in her bag. “It’s a tradition of sorts in our family. My dad bought my mum a bracelet with their names inscribed on it when they were dating. She still wears it every day. I’m sure Hermione has heard the story, so she’ll understand the significance.”
“Your mother has worn the same bracelet every day for almost thirty years?” Draco realized that his mother had literally a vault of jewelry, and probably none of it had any special significance besides its monetary value.
Ginny scrunched her face up for a moment. “You know, I’m not exactly sure when he gave it to her. But, it would be somewhere around thirty years old. I hope that we can still find one for Ron to give to Hermione.”
Draco knew he would probably regret this, but he offered anyway, “There is a jeweler in Diagon Alley, who my father knows fairly well. I could send him a letter and let him know when we will be dropping by, and I’m sure he could come up with a few things for us to look at.”
“That would be great,” Ginny replied with a smile as she started sorting things into her new drawer.
“So what does the bracelet look like? I’ll need a few details so that he can find something close.”
Ginny thought. “It’s a silver chain, with a curved rectangle where the names are inscribed.”
Draco frowned. Everything at Armand’s had diamonds or was made of gold or platinum. “Did your brother tell you how much he wanted to spend? That would probably help Armand narrow the field a little bit.”
“No he didn’t say, but I could ask him if that would help.”
“That’s probably a good idea. Listen, I’m going to go ask Blaise about something.” Ginny nodded as she continued to try to cram a few more things into her drawer. Draco saw what she was doing and sighed. “You know, you can clean out the drawer under that one if you want to, and just pile whatever I’ve got in there on the dresser.”
Ginny smiled at him. “I was hoping you’d say that. By the way, while you are out there, why don’t you work into conversation that you have given me a drawer? I’m sure that Pansy would find the information very useful.”
Chuckling, Draco walked out to see that Pansy and Blaise were still bickering. “If you two could stop that for a moment, I wanted to ask your opinion on something.” When they both stopped talking, he continued, “I’m sure you’re both aware that the Christmas Ball at Malfoy Manor is coming up. I was wondering if I should ask Ginny to go.”
Pansy smiled. “Well why wouldn’t you?”
“For starters, she would probably assume that the people she meets there would be nice to her. I mean I know you are the undisputed queen of the backhanded compliment, but I’m not sure that Ginny would have a good time.”
Blaise smiled. “Well, she could just threaten to shoot fireballs at everyone’s head.”
Pansy frowned. “No, that won’t work. They instituted that rule about no wands being drawn, after Millicent hexed Varuca for saying something particularly cutting about her weight.”
Blaise smiled and nodded. “That’s right, I remember that now. I’d say Varuca is the runner up for your crown, wouldn’t you?”
Pansy smiled. “Please, she is not even in the same league. She chooses weak spots that are way too obvious. I prefer to go for the hidden spots that no one else can see.”
Draco frowned. “Can we get back to the topic at hand please? I am still trying to figure this whole boyfriend thing out. I have already agreed to the Christmas shopping trip, but the rest is still up in the air. I’m not sure, but I have the sinking feeling that I am going to have to go to Ginny’s house and make merry with all six of her brothers.”
Blaise nodded. “Well, why don’t you just take Ginny to one of your vacation homes, and the two of you could spend Christmas together?”
“That would be a wonderful idea, but I think you are forgetting that Ginny actually wants to see her family and spend time with them.”
Pansy chuckled. “Merlin, I wonder what that feels like? You know, we may have another problem. I get the feeling that Ginny does not have a lot of formal wear hanging around in her closet.”
Rubbing his forehead Draco sighed. “I don’t suppose there is a tactful way to ask her about that?”
“Probably not. You know, you should probably owl your mother and let her know that you have a girlfriend, and that you are planning on bringing her home for Christmas. She’ll share the information with her friends, and the gossips will make their usual rounds. Then, people may be a little nicer to Ginny when they meet her.”
“That’s a good idea. Thanks, Pansy.”
Pansy glared at Blaise. “I’m glad that someone around here appreciates me. So where is Ginny?”
Draco smiled innocently. “Oh, she’s putting her things away. I cleared out two drawers for her to keep her stuff in when she stays here.”
Blaise shot daggers at him with his eyes, and Pansy sensed an opening and moved in for the kill. “You know Blaise, if you don’t want me staying over on a school night, I understand. It’s just that I thought that there would be certain benefits to me being here in the morning, when you woke up, before we went to class.”
Blaise had the distinct feeling that he was being played, but when he saw the smoldering look in Pansy’s eyes, he figured it might be to his benefit to give in. “Well you know, I guess if you wanted to stay here tonight, that would be okay.”
“Really, well if you think it would be alright, then maybe you could clean out a drawer for me to keep my things in.”
Blaise made one last ditch attempt to keep the balance of power on his side, “You know my drawers are all quite full at the moment.”
Pansy smiled and leaned in so that Blaise had a stunning shot of her cleavage as she spoke, “Oh that’s alright. But you know I was just thinking that if I was more organized then it would take me less time to get ready in the morning, and we’d have more time for other things.”
Blaise sighed and admitted defeat, “Fine, I’ll go clean out a damn drawer for you.”
Pansy smiled and headed for the door. “I’ll go collect some of my things, and I’m sure two drawers would be just perfect.”
Blaise glared at Draco. “This is another thing that is completely your fault.” He walked out of the room muttering, “You just had to let her know that Ginny had drawers. I told you not to mention that in front of her, but did you listen to me? No…”
Draco chuckled at his friend’s expense, and walked back into his room. He found Ginny reorganizing his clothes in the remaining drawers that he laid claim to. She smiled at him. “I hope you don’t mind. I reorganized a few of your drawers so that all of your things fit. But I am curious. Exactly how many pairs of grey silk pajamas does one person need?”
“Well, that is my grandmother’s standard gift for all occasions. I think she is under the impression that my house colors are grey. Although I have politely tried to correct her in the past, she sticks with her original theory.”
Ginny smiled. “I think I understand. Every year my mum knits each of us a maroon jumper. I wouldn’t mind another color every once in a while, but I don’t really know how to tell her.”
“Speaking of Christmas, I wanted to ask you about something. Every year, my family hosts a Christmas Ball, and I was wondering if you would want to go? It’s an odd affair where everyone dresses in formalwear, and then the women see who can make the best back handed compliments.”
Ginny looked confused. “Why would they do that?”
Draco shrugged. “I don’t know how it got started. The popular theory is that it was the only acceptable way for a wife to insult her husband’s mistress. Since then it’s kind of grown into a sport. Pansy is actually the reigning queen.”
Ginny frowned. “You aren’t making it sound like very much fun.”
“Well I just wanted to warn you that some of the people might not be very nice. But it would mean that you would get introduced to everyone as my girlfriend, and it would give me an excuse to buy you a dress as an early Christmas present.”
Ginny smiled. “That makes it sound much better. When is this double edged occasion?”
“Well, I’m going to owl my mother in the morning to check for sure, but it’s normally the twenty first of December. Most schools let out on the nineteenth, and mother likes to have her Christmas Ball as the first event of the season.”
Shifting back and forth on her feet, Ginny had an uneasy thought. She knew that Draco’s family had money, because all Slytherin’s seemed to. Coming from what she guessed would be called a working class background; she wasn’t exactly sure how much money that meant. But the fact that he was casually throwing around words like ‘Christmas Ball’ and ‘first event of the season’ gave her a sense that she may be playing way out of her league.
She didn’t want to think about that right now, so she decided to change the subject, “So, did you manage to work the whole drawer thing into the conversation with Pansy and Blaise?”
Draco nodded. “Yes, I did. Pansy is, as we speak, gathering things from her room to bring back and put into drawers that Blaise in currently cleaning out.”
Ginny smiled. “She told me that she tried pouting at him, and that it didn’t work. I told her to go with her natural instincts instead.”
“I can’t believe you helped her set Blaise up like that. You should have seen it. It was a thing of beauty. He knew he was being played, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.”
Ginny shut the drawers that she had finished reorganizing and went to sit on the bed. “So, should we compare class schedules and see when we’ll be able to meet up tomorrow?”
Draco grabbed his book bag and pulled out his schedule. Ginny did the same. After looking at both, Ginny smiled. “It looks like you can walk me to my first class, and then meet me at the end of my Double Defensive Arts and then we can go to lunch.
Draco nodded and put his schedule away. “So why are you taking Double Defensive Arts? Not a lot of people sign up for that.”
“Yes, I know. Hermione bugged me to sign up for it with her. At first I didn’t like it very much, but now I really enjoy knowing that I could kick someone’s ass if I had to.” Ginny smiled coyly at him and tilted her head to the side. “Is that wrong?”
Draco shook his head while he laughed. “I don’t know how the Sorting Hat could have been so wrong about you.”
“It’s the whole sweetness and light appearance with the freckles and all, it throws people off,” Ginny assured him as she kicked off her shoes.
Pansy knocked on the door and stuck her head in. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I was going to take a bath, in case you wanted to brush your teeth or something before I locked the door.”
Ginny smiled. “I think we’re good.”
Pansy smiled and whispered, “Listen to this.” Then she left the door ajar a bit and turned around to talk to Blaise, “Oh Blaise, I just wanted to let you know that I was going to be taking a bubble bath.”
“That’s fine, but I am not joining you,” Blaise responded matter of factly.
“Well that’s okay.” Ginny shook her head as Pansy’s voice dropped an octave, “I was just letting you know that I would be in that room over there, naked and soapy, just floating around in warm water. But, you don’t have to join me if you don’t want to.”
A moment later Blaise stuck his head into Draco’s room and hissed, “This is all your fault too.”
Draco smirked at him. “I am so sorry that you have to spend time with a naked soapy girl. How awful for you.”
Blaise frowned. “That is not the point. I don't get to make any decisions any more. None! Somehow she seems to be in charge of everything now. It is driving me crazy.” Blaise pulled the door shut as he walked out.
Ginny laughed and shook her head. “You know, if Blaise would act like he was glad that Pansy was here, she wouldn’t be so manipulative.”
Draco chuckled. “I think that Pansy, by nature, is manipulative. But, you would think that Blaise would just smile and go along with it all. It’s not like he’s getting a bad deal.”
Ginny smiled as she squelched a small twinge of jealousy that was attempting to rear its head. She knew that Pansy and Draco had been an item a few years ago. Of course, they just seemed like friends now. But, if she was honest with herself, it did bother her a little.
Not really sure what to do with herself at this point, Ginny went over to pull a nightshirt out of her drawer. Since she had been staying here, she had been wearing Draco’s pajama shirt. But, now that she had her own things, she felt she should wear them.
She heard Draco rummaging around in his desk. She looked over to see him writing a letter. She changed into the plain blue t-shirt that her mum had bought her to be use as a sleep shirt. It seemed dull in comparison to the gray silk pajama top. Not sure how long Draco was going to be, she grabbed her Defensive Arts book and propped herself up on the bed and started to review tomorrow's lesson.
Draco looked up when he was finished writing the letter to his mother, and he did not like what he saw. “What are you wearing?”
Ginny looked down at herself. “Oh, it’s just a sleep shirt.”
“I can see that, but whose shirt is it?”
Ginny looked confused. “What do you mean? It’s mine.”
Draco frowned. If that was a shirt that Potter had given her, he wanted it off and burned into a pile of ashes. “What I mean is who gave it to you?”
Ginny looked like she did not know where this conversation was going. “My mum gave it to me. Why?”
Now Draco was confused, but he still wasn’t happy. “I don’t want you to wear that shirt.”
Ginny looked at the shirt again, trying to figure out what was so offensive about it. “My mum bought it for me to wear as a sleep shirt. I know it’s not fancy, but I didn’t think it was offensive.”
“So, it’s never belonged to anyone but you?”
“No, where are you going with this?”
Draco walked over to the dresser and grabbed one of his pajama tops. He walked over and handed it to Ginny. “I do not want you wearing that shirt, because it looks like you are wearing another man’s shirt. If you want to sleep in a man’s shirt, you can sleep in one of mine.”
“Oh,” Ginny smiled finally understanding. “I think I understand now. You thought that the shirt might have belonged to Harry, and that bothered you.”
“Yes, it bothered me.” Draco leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Because I have decided that you are mine.”
Ginny knew that the ripple of heat that went through her body was against all the feminist logic that she believed in, but she didn’t care. She just smiled at Draco as she pulled the sleep shirt over her head and issued a small challenge, “Prove it.”
Recognizing the challenge for what it was, Draco pulled Ginny against him, leaned down, and bit the sensitive skin on her neck, determined to leave his mark.
***
Ginny didn’t remember falling asleep last night, but the alarm going off told her that she must have. She stretched and felt deliciously alive. She ran over the events of the previous evening in her mind and smiled. Apparently, issuing a challenge to Draco had turned out to be a good thing.
She rolled over and smiled up at him. “Good morning.”
He smiled back at her. “Yes, it is.”
Ginny sighed. “I guess we have to get ready to go to class.”
“Why don’t you shower first, since it takes you longer to get ready?”
“Sure, I won’t be long.” She saw amusement flicker in his eyes and wondered what it was about. Maybe her hair looked really funny this morning. Ginny walked into the bathroom and laid her clothes out on the counter, then she grabbed her toothbrush and brushed her teeth. After rinsing her mouth, she looked into the mirror and gasped. Her neck was covered in love bites. Not just one, but about a dozen, and they were all a disgusting shade of purple. Cussing a blue streak, she stormed back into the bedroom to see Draco barely containing his laughter. “Dammit Draco! What were you thinking?”
Draco smirked at her. “You didn’t seem to mind at the time.”
Ginny blushed and glared at him. “That’s because I didn’t know I would end up looking like I had been attacked by a rabid vampire.”
Draco shrugged and smirked. “You should not have issued the challenge if you didn’t want it to be met.”
Ginny seethed. “I am going to take a shower, and then I am going to try and take care of this with my wand. If these things do not go away I’m going to….”
Draco cut her off, “Shoot fireballs at my head?”
Ginny growled in frustration and turned around to stomp back into the shower muttering about ‘Pompous Asses’ and ‘Damn Slytherins’.
Draco laughed and started to get his things organized for the day ahead. When Ginny came out of the shower she glared at him and gave him the silent treatment. Grabbing her wand she started using all of the healing spells she knew. After about twenty minutes the marks were barely noticeable.
While Draco was in the shower she tried to calm down. She was furious with him because she thought last night had been amazing, and now it seemed he had just been playing her for a fool. She felt hot tears start to build up in her eyes, and the last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of him. Grabbing her book bag she pulled all of her belongings out of his drawers and stuffed them inside her bag. Then, she walked out into the living room, intent on heading down to breakfast without him.
Pansy looked up from the couch, and Ginny tried to maintain a neutral tone, “Good morning, Pansy.”
Pansy looked at her for about two seconds before assessing the situation and asking, “What did he do?”
Ginny shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’m going down to breakfast. I’ll see you around.”
Pansy frowned but let her go on by. She sat down on the couch and waited to see how long it would take Draco to figure out that he had screwed up.
When they reached the Great Hall, Draco once again found himself seated between Ginny and Colin Creevey. He quickly filled his plate and began to eat. When Hermione passed Ginny an actual itinerary of the shopping trip for next Saturday, he smirked and whispered in Ginny’s ear, “I thought you were joking about the itinerary.”
Ginny shook her head and smiled. Draco rolled his eyes and saw that Colin was making a great show of looking up at the ceiling all around the room. “What are you looking for?” Draco asked even though he knew he was probably being set up.
Colin smiled at him. “I don’t know. A Slytherin is voluntarily sitting at the Gryffindor table. I was just sure that there would be winged pigs up there somewhere.”
Draco scowled and Colin and his friends laughed. Leaning over to Ginny he whispered, “I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”
Ginny quickly finished her food, and said goodbye to Ron and Hermione. Then, she let Draco pull her out of the Great Hall. They started walking towards his room, and then he changed directions. She realized they must be headed to her room for her to pick up a few things. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she said the password and started to pull him inside the Common Room. He stopped walking, and she looked back at him. “I’ll wait out here,” he explained.
“Why?”
“Because, it doesn’t feel right to follow you in there,” he said with a shrug.
Ginny raised her eyebrows at him. “Alright, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Draco stood in the hallway and thought about the approaching Christmas shopping trip. This line of thought led to him wondering how the whole boyfriend thing worked at Christmas. He assumed they would be exchanging presents, but he didn’t know if he would actually have to go to her house, much less meet her six brothers. God forbid she wanted to come to Malfoy Manor to meet his family. His mother was kind hearted, while his father was mostly polite. Then, he realized, there was the Christmas Ball to consider.
He cringed when he thought about the Christmas Ball. Everyone dressed up in their best formal wear, and then the sport of vicious backbiting ensued. Pansy, of course, was the reigning champion, so she was always entertaining to be around. He assumed Blaise would be taking her this year, given their current situation.
Frowning, he realized that if he didn’t take Ginny, her feelings would probably be hurt. But if he took her, she would be subjected to a truly unenjoyable evening. Maybe, he thought, he should ask Blaise and Pansy’s opinion on the whole thing.
Ginny emerged from the portrait hole and smiled at him. “I think I’ve got everything. “
Draco reached out and grabbed the bag she was carrying and they walked back to his rooms. Blaise and Pansy were arguing on the couch about something, so they went into his room and Ginny started sorting through her bag to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. When she pulled out her textbook, a letter fell out. “I wonder what this is?” she said as she opened it.
Draco, who had been clearing out a drawer in his dresser for her, looked over to see what she was talking about. “If that is a letter from a secret admirer, I am going to put all of my things back in this drawer.”
Ginny smiled as she read the letter. “No, it’s a letter from Ron. He wants me to buy something for Hermione when we go on the shopping trip. He says that he realized, after he looked at her itinerary, that he wouldn’t be able to get away from her long enough to get what he wanted.”
Draco shook his head trying to imagine dating someone like Granger. “So what are you supposed to sneak off and buy for her, a set of books?”
“No, it’s actually quite romantic. He wants to buy her an ID bracelet.”
After turning around to see if she was joking, which apparently she was not, he had to ask, “How is an ID bracelet romantic? Diamonds I could understand, but an ID bracelet?”
Ginny smiled as she put the letter back in her bag. “It’s a tradition of sorts in our family. My dad bought my mum a bracelet with their names inscribed on it when they were dating. She still wears it every day. I’m sure Hermione has heard the story, so she’ll understand the significance.”
“Your mother has worn the same bracelet every day for almost thirty years?” Draco realized that his mother had literally a vault of jewelry, and probably none of it had any special significance besides its monetary value.
Ginny scrunched her face up for a moment. “You know, I’m not exactly sure when he gave it to her. But, it would be somewhere around thirty years old. I hope that we can still find one for Ron to give to Hermione.”
Draco knew he would probably regret this, but he offered anyway, “There is a jeweler in Diagon Alley, who my father knows fairly well. I could send him a letter and let him know when we will be dropping by, and I’m sure he could come up with a few things for us to look at.”
“That would be great,” Ginny replied with a smile as she started sorting things into her new drawer.
“So what does the bracelet look like? I’ll need a few details so that he can find something close.”
Ginny thought. “It’s a silver chain, with a curved rectangle where the names are inscribed.”
Draco frowned. Everything at Armand’s had diamonds or was made of gold or platinum. “Did your brother tell you how much he wanted to spend? That would probably help Armand narrow the field a little bit.”
“No he didn’t say, but I could ask him if that would help.”
“That’s probably a good idea. Listen, I’m going to go ask Blaise about something.” Ginny nodded as she continued to try to cram a few more things into her drawer. Draco saw what she was doing and sighed. “You know, you can clean out the drawer under that one if you want to, and just pile whatever I’ve got in there on the dresser.”
Ginny smiled at him. “I was hoping you’d say that. By the way, while you are out there, why don’t you work into conversation that you have given me a drawer? I’m sure that Pansy would find the information very useful.”
Chuckling, Draco walked out to see that Pansy and Blaise were still bickering. “If you two could stop that for a moment, I wanted to ask your opinion on something.” When they both stopped talking, he continued, “I’m sure you’re both aware that the Christmas Ball at Malfoy Manor is coming up. I was wondering if I should ask Ginny to go.”
Pansy smiled. “Well why wouldn’t you?”
“For starters, she would probably assume that the people she meets there would be nice to her. I mean I know you are the undisputed queen of the backhanded compliment, but I’m not sure that Ginny would have a good time.”
Blaise smiled. “Well, she could just threaten to shoot fireballs at everyone’s head.”
Pansy frowned. “No, that won’t work. They instituted that rule about no wands being drawn, after Millicent hexed Varuca for saying something particularly cutting about her weight.”
Blaise smiled and nodded. “That’s right, I remember that now. I’d say Varuca is the runner up for your crown, wouldn’t you?”
Pansy smiled. “Please, she is not even in the same league. She chooses weak spots that are way too obvious. I prefer to go for the hidden spots that no one else can see.”
Draco frowned. “Can we get back to the topic at hand please? I am still trying to figure this whole boyfriend thing out. I have already agreed to the Christmas shopping trip, but the rest is still up in the air. I’m not sure, but I have the sinking feeling that I am going to have to go to Ginny’s house and make merry with all six of her brothers.”
Blaise nodded. “Well, why don’t you just take Ginny to one of your vacation homes, and the two of you could spend Christmas together?”
“That would be a wonderful idea, but I think you are forgetting that Ginny actually wants to see her family and spend time with them.”
Pansy chuckled. “Merlin, I wonder what that feels like? You know, we may have another problem. I get the feeling that Ginny does not have a lot of formal wear hanging around in her closet.”
Rubbing his forehead Draco sighed. “I don’t suppose there is a tactful way to ask her about that?”
“Probably not. You know, you should probably owl your mother and let her know that you have a girlfriend, and that you are planning on bringing her home for Christmas. She’ll share the information with her friends, and the gossips will make their usual rounds. Then, people may be a little nicer to Ginny when they meet her.”
“That’s a good idea. Thanks, Pansy.”
Pansy glared at Blaise. “I’m glad that someone around here appreciates me. So where is Ginny?”
Draco smiled innocently. “Oh, she’s putting her things away. I cleared out two drawers for her to keep her stuff in when she stays here.”
Blaise shot daggers at him with his eyes, and Pansy sensed an opening and moved in for the kill. “You know Blaise, if you don’t want me staying over on a school night, I understand. It’s just that I thought that there would be certain benefits to me being here in the morning, when you woke up, before we went to class.”
Blaise had the distinct feeling that he was being played, but when he saw the smoldering look in Pansy’s eyes, he figured it might be to his benefit to give in. “Well you know, I guess if you wanted to stay here tonight, that would be okay.”
“Really, well if you think it would be alright, then maybe you could clean out a drawer for me to keep my things in.”
Blaise made one last ditch attempt to keep the balance of power on his side, “You know my drawers are all quite full at the moment.”
Pansy smiled and leaned in so that Blaise had a stunning shot of her cleavage as she spoke, “Oh that’s alright. But you know I was just thinking that if I was more organized then it would take me less time to get ready in the morning, and we’d have more time for other things.”
Blaise sighed and admitted defeat, “Fine, I’ll go clean out a damn drawer for you.”
Pansy smiled and headed for the door. “I’ll go collect some of my things, and I’m sure two drawers would be just perfect.”
Blaise glared at Draco. “This is another thing that is completely your fault.” He walked out of the room muttering, “You just had to let her know that Ginny had drawers. I told you not to mention that in front of her, but did you listen to me? No…”
Draco chuckled at his friend’s expense, and walked back into his room. He found Ginny reorganizing his clothes in the remaining drawers that he laid claim to. She smiled at him. “I hope you don’t mind. I reorganized a few of your drawers so that all of your things fit. But I am curious. Exactly how many pairs of grey silk pajamas does one person need?”
“Well, that is my grandmother’s standard gift for all occasions. I think she is under the impression that my house colors are grey. Although I have politely tried to correct her in the past, she sticks with her original theory.”
Ginny smiled. “I think I understand. Every year my mum knits each of us a maroon jumper. I wouldn’t mind another color every once in a while, but I don’t really know how to tell her.”
“Speaking of Christmas, I wanted to ask you about something. Every year, my family hosts a Christmas Ball, and I was wondering if you would want to go? It’s an odd affair where everyone dresses in formalwear, and then the women see who can make the best back handed compliments.”
Ginny looked confused. “Why would they do that?”
Draco shrugged. “I don’t know how it got started. The popular theory is that it was the only acceptable way for a wife to insult her husband’s mistress. Since then it’s kind of grown into a sport. Pansy is actually the reigning queen.”
Ginny frowned. “You aren’t making it sound like very much fun.”
“Well I just wanted to warn you that some of the people might not be very nice. But it would mean that you would get introduced to everyone as my girlfriend, and it would give me an excuse to buy you a dress as an early Christmas present.”
Ginny smiled. “That makes it sound much better. When is this double edged occasion?”
“Well, I’m going to owl my mother in the morning to check for sure, but it’s normally the twenty first of December. Most schools let out on the nineteenth, and mother likes to have her Christmas Ball as the first event of the season.”
Shifting back and forth on her feet, Ginny had an uneasy thought. She knew that Draco’s family had money, because all Slytherin’s seemed to. Coming from what she guessed would be called a working class background; she wasn’t exactly sure how much money that meant. But the fact that he was casually throwing around words like ‘Christmas Ball’ and ‘first event of the season’ gave her a sense that she may be playing way out of her league.
She didn’t want to think about that right now, so she decided to change the subject, “So, did you manage to work the whole drawer thing into the conversation with Pansy and Blaise?”
Draco nodded. “Yes, I did. Pansy is, as we speak, gathering things from her room to bring back and put into drawers that Blaise in currently cleaning out.”
Ginny smiled. “She told me that she tried pouting at him, and that it didn’t work. I told her to go with her natural instincts instead.”
“I can’t believe you helped her set Blaise up like that. You should have seen it. It was a thing of beauty. He knew he was being played, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.”
Ginny shut the drawers that she had finished reorganizing and went to sit on the bed. “So, should we compare class schedules and see when we’ll be able to meet up tomorrow?”
Draco grabbed his book bag and pulled out his schedule. Ginny did the same. After looking at both, Ginny smiled. “It looks like you can walk me to my first class, and then meet me at the end of my Double Defensive Arts and then we can go to lunch.
Draco nodded and put his schedule away. “So why are you taking Double Defensive Arts? Not a lot of people sign up for that.”
“Yes, I know. Hermione bugged me to sign up for it with her. At first I didn’t like it very much, but now I really enjoy knowing that I could kick someone’s ass if I had to.” Ginny smiled coyly at him and tilted her head to the side. “Is that wrong?”
Draco shook his head while he laughed. “I don’t know how the Sorting Hat could have been so wrong about you.”
“It’s the whole sweetness and light appearance with the freckles and all, it throws people off,” Ginny assured him as she kicked off her shoes.
Pansy knocked on the door and stuck her head in. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I was going to take a bath, in case you wanted to brush your teeth or something before I locked the door.”
Ginny smiled. “I think we’re good.”
Pansy smiled and whispered, “Listen to this.” Then she left the door ajar a bit and turned around to talk to Blaise, “Oh Blaise, I just wanted to let you know that I was going to be taking a bubble bath.”
“That’s fine, but I am not joining you,” Blaise responded matter of factly.
“Well that’s okay.” Ginny shook her head as Pansy’s voice dropped an octave, “I was just letting you know that I would be in that room over there, naked and soapy, just floating around in warm water. But, you don’t have to join me if you don’t want to.”
A moment later Blaise stuck his head into Draco’s room and hissed, “This is all your fault too.”
Draco smirked at him. “I am so sorry that you have to spend time with a naked soapy girl. How awful for you.”
Blaise frowned. “That is not the point. I don't get to make any decisions any more. None! Somehow she seems to be in charge of everything now. It is driving me crazy.” Blaise pulled the door shut as he walked out.
Ginny laughed and shook her head. “You know, if Blaise would act like he was glad that Pansy was here, she wouldn’t be so manipulative.”
Draco chuckled. “I think that Pansy, by nature, is manipulative. But, you would think that Blaise would just smile and go along with it all. It’s not like he’s getting a bad deal.”
Ginny smiled as she squelched a small twinge of jealousy that was attempting to rear its head. She knew that Pansy and Draco had been an item a few years ago. Of course, they just seemed like friends now. But, if she was honest with herself, it did bother her a little.
Not really sure what to do with herself at this point, Ginny went over to pull a nightshirt out of her drawer. Since she had been staying here, she had been wearing Draco’s pajama shirt. But, now that she had her own things, she felt she should wear them.
She heard Draco rummaging around in his desk. She looked over to see him writing a letter. She changed into the plain blue t-shirt that her mum had bought her to be use as a sleep shirt. It seemed dull in comparison to the gray silk pajama top. Not sure how long Draco was going to be, she grabbed her Defensive Arts book and propped herself up on the bed and started to review tomorrow's lesson.
Draco looked up when he was finished writing the letter to his mother, and he did not like what he saw. “What are you wearing?”
Ginny looked down at herself. “Oh, it’s just a sleep shirt.”
“I can see that, but whose shirt is it?”
Ginny looked confused. “What do you mean? It’s mine.”
Draco frowned. If that was a shirt that Potter had given her, he wanted it off and burned into a pile of ashes. “What I mean is who gave it to you?”
Ginny looked like she did not know where this conversation was going. “My mum gave it to me. Why?”
Now Draco was confused, but he still wasn’t happy. “I don’t want you to wear that shirt.”
Ginny looked at the shirt again, trying to figure out what was so offensive about it. “My mum bought it for me to wear as a sleep shirt. I know it’s not fancy, but I didn’t think it was offensive.”
“So, it’s never belonged to anyone but you?”
“No, where are you going with this?”
Draco walked over to the dresser and grabbed one of his pajama tops. He walked over and handed it to Ginny. “I do not want you wearing that shirt, because it looks like you are wearing another man’s shirt. If you want to sleep in a man’s shirt, you can sleep in one of mine.”
“Oh,” Ginny smiled finally understanding. “I think I understand now. You thought that the shirt might have belonged to Harry, and that bothered you.”
“Yes, it bothered me.” Draco leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Because I have decided that you are mine.”
Ginny knew that the ripple of heat that went through her body was against all the feminist logic that she believed in, but she didn’t care. She just smiled at Draco as she pulled the sleep shirt over her head and issued a small challenge, “Prove it.”
Recognizing the challenge for what it was, Draco pulled Ginny against him, leaned down, and bit the sensitive skin on her neck, determined to leave his mark.
***
Ginny didn’t remember falling asleep last night, but the alarm going off told her that she must have. She stretched and felt deliciously alive. She ran over the events of the previous evening in her mind and smiled. Apparently, issuing a challenge to Draco had turned out to be a good thing.
She rolled over and smiled up at him. “Good morning.”
He smiled back at her. “Yes, it is.”
Ginny sighed. “I guess we have to get ready to go to class.”
“Why don’t you shower first, since it takes you longer to get ready?”
“Sure, I won’t be long.” She saw amusement flicker in his eyes and wondered what it was about. Maybe her hair looked really funny this morning. Ginny walked into the bathroom and laid her clothes out on the counter, then she grabbed her toothbrush and brushed her teeth. After rinsing her mouth, she looked into the mirror and gasped. Her neck was covered in love bites. Not just one, but about a dozen, and they were all a disgusting shade of purple. Cussing a blue streak, she stormed back into the bedroom to see Draco barely containing his laughter. “Dammit Draco! What were you thinking?”
Draco smirked at her. “You didn’t seem to mind at the time.”
Ginny blushed and glared at him. “That’s because I didn’t know I would end up looking like I had been attacked by a rabid vampire.”
Draco shrugged and smirked. “You should not have issued the challenge if you didn’t want it to be met.”
Ginny seethed. “I am going to take a shower, and then I am going to try and take care of this with my wand. If these things do not go away I’m going to….”
Draco cut her off, “Shoot fireballs at my head?”
Ginny growled in frustration and turned around to stomp back into the shower muttering about ‘Pompous Asses’ and ‘Damn Slytherins’.
Draco laughed and started to get his things organized for the day ahead. When Ginny came out of the shower she glared at him and gave him the silent treatment. Grabbing her wand she started using all of the healing spells she knew. After about twenty minutes the marks were barely noticeable.
While Draco was in the shower she tried to calm down. She was furious with him because she thought last night had been amazing, and now it seemed he had just been playing her for a fool. She felt hot tears start to build up in her eyes, and the last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of him. Grabbing her book bag she pulled all of her belongings out of his drawers and stuffed them inside her bag. Then, she walked out into the living room, intent on heading down to breakfast without him.
Pansy looked up from the couch, and Ginny tried to maintain a neutral tone, “Good morning, Pansy.”
Pansy looked at her for about two seconds before assessing the situation and asking, “What did he do?”
Ginny shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’m going down to breakfast. I’ll see you around.”
Pansy frowned but let her go on by. She sat down on the couch and waited to see how long it would take Draco to figure out that he had screwed up.
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