March first found Draco reluctantly following behind Ginny as she led him through endless twists and turns and up several flights of stairs. “I’m not really sure about this, Ginny,” he told her grumpily. After all, who would be happy, preparing as he was to go meet up with a bunch of Gryffindors and whatnot who were planning to overthrow his father’s precious master?
“Don’t chicken out now, little ferret,” Ginny scolded, stopping abruptly and turning to face him. “You agreed to come.”
Oh, but he did love it when she called him that. Though right now she was using it to soften him up. And to Draco’s chagrin, he know it was working. He scowled and motioned for her to lead on.
Ginny smiled triumphantly and turned back around, once again setting a fast pace along the corridor. Draco sighed, unsure whether he wanted to hex her of snog her. She made him feel like that a lot; so easily messing with his head and, dare he think it, his heart. He didn’t realize he was standing in the middle of the hall just staring at her until she looked back at him and cleared her throat.
Draco grumbled to himself as he followed her. Finally, after another set of stairs and five more turns, she stopped in front of a nondescript wall. Draco raised his eyebrows and asked in disbelief, “The Room of Requirement? Your group meets in here?”
“Very good, Malfoy,” Ginny replied teasingly. She ignored his glare and continued. “Yes, we meet in the Room of Requirement, same as we always have. Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad couldn’t scare us off.”
She paused and looked up at him, concern flashing in her eyes. “Are you ready?”
Draco shrugged. “Well, I’ll never be ready. But I’m not going to run away, either.”
Ginny laughed and anxiously smoothed his robes over his shoulders. “I didn’t expect you to.”
Draco grabbed her wrists to stop her frantic movements. “You’re going to make me nervous. Calm down.” He placed a feather light kiss against her fingers. “It’ll be fine.”
Ginny sighed. “I know. I’m just worried about how everyone’s going to react to a Slytherin, especially this Slytherin, walking in.”
Draco still wasn’t sure how she’d managed to convince him to do this. She’d come to him almost two weeks ago and innocently told him about a group of students who studied Defense Against the Dark Arts together. Draco could remember something like that in his fifth year and had been kind of surprised to hear about its continuation.
He was even more surprised by the fact that he’d agreed to join. It wasn’t a sudden desire to be noble or even just to gain recognition. He now realized that he wanted to fight Voldemort. Not just disobey him, but actually fight him. He’d been putting it off for a long time, but he’d always known he would eventually need to pick a side and commit to this war.
“Just keep your wand in your pocket,” Ginny said warningly, interrupting his thoughts. “They’ll be less likely to attack you if you are unarmed.” She grabbed his hand then.
“Thanks,” Draco drawled. “That’s very reassuring.”
A minute later they were pushing open the heavy wooden door. Draco took a deep breath as the interior came into view and squared his shoulders. It was already full of students, and they were all looking at him. He immediately put on his most confident expression, the same one that had carried him through these seven years of school, and allowed Ginny to pull him inside.
The room was rather simple. Not really decorated so much as… loved in. Posters and pictures and old books littered the place. A couple of dummies, presumably for practicing more hazardous spell, were mounted in one section and pillows were scattered across the floor in another.
Across the room a giant photo of Potter himself glared at Draco as he stepped into the room. Of course, they would have him in here. The great bloody hero who was going to save the world from doom and destruction. He must have tensed because Ginny started rubbing her free hand up and down his arm.
The members of… the D.A. wasn’t it?… cautiously gathered around. Draco looked back at them just as cautiously. Truth be told, he really did feel like running away. It was only his pride that kept him there.
Ginny smiled at the other students and her grip on Draco’s hand tightened. “Hey, everyone,” she said nervously. “This is Draco Malfoy. He wants to join.”
Several members looked at him with disbelief written on their faces. Someone called out, “He just wants to spy on us! Why’d you bring him here?”
Ginny stiffened and leveled a glare at the speaker that made Draco cringe and feel thankful that he wasn’t on the receiving end. “He is not a spy!” she snapped. “He just wants to join us.”
Another student argued, “His father’s a Death Eater! How do you know he’s not one too?”
“I trust him,” Ginny replied. She glanced at him for a second, then back to the crowd of students who still didn’t seem convinced.
Draco had had enough. “Do you want proof?” he asked, desperately reigning in his anger.
Ginny tugged on his arm. “Draco,” she hissed, “you don’t have to prove anything to them.”
The members of the D.A., however, felt differently. Shouts of assent came from every direction. Draco gently pulled himself out of Ginny’s hands and pulled up his shirt sleeves, exposing his unblemished arms to the group.
Neville Longbottom stepped out of the crowd and extended his hand. “Welcome to Dumbledore’s Army, Malfoy,” he said.
Draco gripped the boy’s hand and was surprised by the firm shake he received. Several more students stepped forward to shake his hand, though slightly less confidently than Longbottom had.
Draco glanced down at Ginny and she smiled. He took her hand again as she led him to a table he hadn’t noticed before. It looked like it was ready to fall apart. Or maybe already had and been sloppily repaired. She handed him a quill and pointed to a piece of parchment that was covered in signatures and bearing the heading DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY.
“You’ll need to sign this,” she told him. “It’s charmed to reveal anyone who betrays the group, so be sure you don’t mention it to anyone.”
When he’d signed the paper, Ginny took the quill back and held up a Galleon. He raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned. “It’s got a Protean Charm on it so that we can send messages to the members. Meeting times and stuff.”
Draco nodded and stuffed the coin into his pocket. “Hm. Well, that’s not a bad idea,” he said, mildly impressed.
Ginny‘s smile grew. “It was Hermione who set it up. She planned the whole thing and charmed the member sheet and the coins.”
Draco’s first instinct was to take back every complimentary thing he’d said, but he forcibly swallowed the urge and settled for simply smiling back at the red head. She seemed pleased.
The meeting started then, and, to Draco’s surprise, Longbottom appeared to be in charge. He paired them off and told them to practice stinging charms and shields. Draco found himself across from Ginny, though he could see by the looks some of the others were giving him that they would have loved to be the one to have a chance to hex him.
“Do you want to go first or should I go ahead?”
Draco shook his head. “I don’t care. You can do it.”
Ginny smiled and the glint in her eyes made Draco feel a bit nervous. “Alright,” she said simply.
He only just had enough time to cast his shield charm before Ginny’s nonverbal spell flew at him. He glanced at her sharply and she merely laughed at his surprise. Draco retaliated with a quick stinger of his own, but her block was just as quick as his.
They waged their own little battle for quite a while until Draco finally managed to get past Ginny’s shield charm. His spell hit her and knocked her off her feet. Ginny pushed up onto her elbows and glared at him.
Draco hurried over to pull her up, laughing and apologizing at the same time. Ginny slapped his hand away and got up on her own. “That wasn’t funny, Malfoy,” she told him sullenly.
Draco kissed her on the cheek, trying to make her feel better, and said, “No. But your reaction was.”
Ginny swatted his arm, but he could see the amusement dancing in her eyes. She pushed him away and whispered, “Back to your spot. You’re going to pay!”
At that moment, however, a dark-skinned girl came up behind Ginny and asked, “So it’s Draco Malfoy? He’s the one you’ve fallen for?”
Ginny blushed and nodded, giving Draco a sheepish look. “Draco, this is Parvati Patil, a housemate of mine. She saw the locket and guessed that I was seeing someone. I didn’t tell her it was you, though,” she hastily added.
Draco smiled and shook the girl’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Patil.”
The girl looked him up and down and grinned. “I never would have thought that you would be the romantic type, Malfoy. I seem to remember you trading insults with Harry on a near daily basis.”
Draco was slightly taken aback. “What do you mean? I’m certainly not the ‘romantic type’.”
Parvati reached for the silver chain around Ginny’s neck and lifted the locket that was hanging there. Draco felt a hum of satisfaction when he saw that she was wearing it. Parvati called his attention back by pointing out the engraving on the back. “I would give anything for a guy who would put something as sentimental as this on a piece of jewelry. It’s so sweet!”
Draco could feel himself flushing. He stared down at his feet as he tried to come up with a decent reply. “I just… wanted… I couldn’t… It’s only…”
Parvati smirked and interrupted. “I’ll just leave you two alone now.” And with that, she turned and left.
“Parvati’s a hopeless romantic,” Ginny explained. “She makes Romeo and Juliet look like a pair of love-sick puppies.”
“Who are Romeo and Juliet?” Draco asked. He’d never heard of anyone by those names.
Ginny shook her head. “Never mind,” she said. “Come on. Let’s keep going.”
They continued practicing for the rest of the meeting. Ginny did end up paying Draco back for his hex. Twice, in fact. Finally, none too soon in Draco’s opinion, Neville called an end and students began filing out the door.
Draco waited until nearly everyone was gone before sneaking up behind Ginny. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she jumped. He chuckled and whispered in her ear, “Thank you for bringing me. It was… fun.”
Ginny tried to turn to face him, but Draco prevented her. He put his chin on her shoulder and kissed her jaw. “Did you really like it?” she asked, giving in and leaning against him.
Draco sighed as she laced her fingers with his. “Yeah. I did. I’m kind of surprised, actually. And I’m glad you convinced me to join the good side. Your friends are nice, once they get over the hostility bit, that is. Just don’t expect me to turn into a goody two-shoes hero.”
Ginny laughed softly. “I won’t. Want to walk me back to my common room?” She cocked her head so that she could look at him and Draco took advantage of that by pressing a short kiss to her lips.
They pulled apart and Draco grabbed her bag for her in a show of chivalry. Ginny raised her eyebrows and led the way to Gryffindor Tower, smiling all the way. Once there, Draco handed her her bag, but instead of letting go, used it to pull her against him.
“Good night,” he whispered, right before covering her mouth with his own. His hands automatically moved to her waist as her arms wrapped around his neck.
Ginny pulled back first, her breathing heavy, and gave a little chuckle. “Good night,” she murmured. Then she disappeared through the portrait hole. Draco didn’t even remember hearing her give a password.
He sighed happily and made his way down to the dungeons. He had now officially joined the fight against the Dark Lord, but because he was with Ginny, he wasn’t the least bit worried.
“Don’t chicken out now, little ferret,” Ginny scolded, stopping abruptly and turning to face him. “You agreed to come.”
Oh, but he did love it when she called him that. Though right now she was using it to soften him up. And to Draco’s chagrin, he know it was working. He scowled and motioned for her to lead on.
Ginny smiled triumphantly and turned back around, once again setting a fast pace along the corridor. Draco sighed, unsure whether he wanted to hex her of snog her. She made him feel like that a lot; so easily messing with his head and, dare he think it, his heart. He didn’t realize he was standing in the middle of the hall just staring at her until she looked back at him and cleared her throat.
Draco grumbled to himself as he followed her. Finally, after another set of stairs and five more turns, she stopped in front of a nondescript wall. Draco raised his eyebrows and asked in disbelief, “The Room of Requirement? Your group meets in here?”
“Very good, Malfoy,” Ginny replied teasingly. She ignored his glare and continued. “Yes, we meet in the Room of Requirement, same as we always have. Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad couldn’t scare us off.”
She paused and looked up at him, concern flashing in her eyes. “Are you ready?”
Draco shrugged. “Well, I’ll never be ready. But I’m not going to run away, either.”
Ginny laughed and anxiously smoothed his robes over his shoulders. “I didn’t expect you to.”
Draco grabbed her wrists to stop her frantic movements. “You’re going to make me nervous. Calm down.” He placed a feather light kiss against her fingers. “It’ll be fine.”
Ginny sighed. “I know. I’m just worried about how everyone’s going to react to a Slytherin, especially this Slytherin, walking in.”
Draco still wasn’t sure how she’d managed to convince him to do this. She’d come to him almost two weeks ago and innocently told him about a group of students who studied Defense Against the Dark Arts together. Draco could remember something like that in his fifth year and had been kind of surprised to hear about its continuation.
He was even more surprised by the fact that he’d agreed to join. It wasn’t a sudden desire to be noble or even just to gain recognition. He now realized that he wanted to fight Voldemort. Not just disobey him, but actually fight him. He’d been putting it off for a long time, but he’d always known he would eventually need to pick a side and commit to this war.
“Just keep your wand in your pocket,” Ginny said warningly, interrupting his thoughts. “They’ll be less likely to attack you if you are unarmed.” She grabbed his hand then.
“Thanks,” Draco drawled. “That’s very reassuring.”
A minute later they were pushing open the heavy wooden door. Draco took a deep breath as the interior came into view and squared his shoulders. It was already full of students, and they were all looking at him. He immediately put on his most confident expression, the same one that had carried him through these seven years of school, and allowed Ginny to pull him inside.
The room was rather simple. Not really decorated so much as… loved in. Posters and pictures and old books littered the place. A couple of dummies, presumably for practicing more hazardous spell, were mounted in one section and pillows were scattered across the floor in another.
Across the room a giant photo of Potter himself glared at Draco as he stepped into the room. Of course, they would have him in here. The great bloody hero who was going to save the world from doom and destruction. He must have tensed because Ginny started rubbing her free hand up and down his arm.
The members of… the D.A. wasn’t it?… cautiously gathered around. Draco looked back at them just as cautiously. Truth be told, he really did feel like running away. It was only his pride that kept him there.
Ginny smiled at the other students and her grip on Draco’s hand tightened. “Hey, everyone,” she said nervously. “This is Draco Malfoy. He wants to join.”
Several members looked at him with disbelief written on their faces. Someone called out, “He just wants to spy on us! Why’d you bring him here?”
Ginny stiffened and leveled a glare at the speaker that made Draco cringe and feel thankful that he wasn’t on the receiving end. “He is not a spy!” she snapped. “He just wants to join us.”
Another student argued, “His father’s a Death Eater! How do you know he’s not one too?”
“I trust him,” Ginny replied. She glanced at him for a second, then back to the crowd of students who still didn’t seem convinced.
Draco had had enough. “Do you want proof?” he asked, desperately reigning in his anger.
Ginny tugged on his arm. “Draco,” she hissed, “you don’t have to prove anything to them.”
The members of the D.A., however, felt differently. Shouts of assent came from every direction. Draco gently pulled himself out of Ginny’s hands and pulled up his shirt sleeves, exposing his unblemished arms to the group.
Neville Longbottom stepped out of the crowd and extended his hand. “Welcome to Dumbledore’s Army, Malfoy,” he said.
Draco gripped the boy’s hand and was surprised by the firm shake he received. Several more students stepped forward to shake his hand, though slightly less confidently than Longbottom had.
Draco glanced down at Ginny and she smiled. He took her hand again as she led him to a table he hadn’t noticed before. It looked like it was ready to fall apart. Or maybe already had and been sloppily repaired. She handed him a quill and pointed to a piece of parchment that was covered in signatures and bearing the heading DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY.
“You’ll need to sign this,” she told him. “It’s charmed to reveal anyone who betrays the group, so be sure you don’t mention it to anyone.”
When he’d signed the paper, Ginny took the quill back and held up a Galleon. He raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned. “It’s got a Protean Charm on it so that we can send messages to the members. Meeting times and stuff.”
Draco nodded and stuffed the coin into his pocket. “Hm. Well, that’s not a bad idea,” he said, mildly impressed.
Ginny‘s smile grew. “It was Hermione who set it up. She planned the whole thing and charmed the member sheet and the coins.”
Draco’s first instinct was to take back every complimentary thing he’d said, but he forcibly swallowed the urge and settled for simply smiling back at the red head. She seemed pleased.
The meeting started then, and, to Draco’s surprise, Longbottom appeared to be in charge. He paired them off and told them to practice stinging charms and shields. Draco found himself across from Ginny, though he could see by the looks some of the others were giving him that they would have loved to be the one to have a chance to hex him.
“Do you want to go first or should I go ahead?”
Draco shook his head. “I don’t care. You can do it.”
Ginny smiled and the glint in her eyes made Draco feel a bit nervous. “Alright,” she said simply.
He only just had enough time to cast his shield charm before Ginny’s nonverbal spell flew at him. He glanced at her sharply and she merely laughed at his surprise. Draco retaliated with a quick stinger of his own, but her block was just as quick as his.
They waged their own little battle for quite a while until Draco finally managed to get past Ginny’s shield charm. His spell hit her and knocked her off her feet. Ginny pushed up onto her elbows and glared at him.
Draco hurried over to pull her up, laughing and apologizing at the same time. Ginny slapped his hand away and got up on her own. “That wasn’t funny, Malfoy,” she told him sullenly.
Draco kissed her on the cheek, trying to make her feel better, and said, “No. But your reaction was.”
Ginny swatted his arm, but he could see the amusement dancing in her eyes. She pushed him away and whispered, “Back to your spot. You’re going to pay!”
At that moment, however, a dark-skinned girl came up behind Ginny and asked, “So it’s Draco Malfoy? He’s the one you’ve fallen for?”
Ginny blushed and nodded, giving Draco a sheepish look. “Draco, this is Parvati Patil, a housemate of mine. She saw the locket and guessed that I was seeing someone. I didn’t tell her it was you, though,” she hastily added.
Draco smiled and shook the girl’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Patil.”
The girl looked him up and down and grinned. “I never would have thought that you would be the romantic type, Malfoy. I seem to remember you trading insults with Harry on a near daily basis.”
Draco was slightly taken aback. “What do you mean? I’m certainly not the ‘romantic type’.”
Parvati reached for the silver chain around Ginny’s neck and lifted the locket that was hanging there. Draco felt a hum of satisfaction when he saw that she was wearing it. Parvati called his attention back by pointing out the engraving on the back. “I would give anything for a guy who would put something as sentimental as this on a piece of jewelry. It’s so sweet!”
Draco could feel himself flushing. He stared down at his feet as he tried to come up with a decent reply. “I just… wanted… I couldn’t… It’s only…”
Parvati smirked and interrupted. “I’ll just leave you two alone now.” And with that, she turned and left.
“Parvati’s a hopeless romantic,” Ginny explained. “She makes Romeo and Juliet look like a pair of love-sick puppies.”
“Who are Romeo and Juliet?” Draco asked. He’d never heard of anyone by those names.
Ginny shook her head. “Never mind,” she said. “Come on. Let’s keep going.”
They continued practicing for the rest of the meeting. Ginny did end up paying Draco back for his hex. Twice, in fact. Finally, none too soon in Draco’s opinion, Neville called an end and students began filing out the door.
Draco waited until nearly everyone was gone before sneaking up behind Ginny. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she jumped. He chuckled and whispered in her ear, “Thank you for bringing me. It was… fun.”
Ginny tried to turn to face him, but Draco prevented her. He put his chin on her shoulder and kissed her jaw. “Did you really like it?” she asked, giving in and leaning against him.
Draco sighed as she laced her fingers with his. “Yeah. I did. I’m kind of surprised, actually. And I’m glad you convinced me to join the good side. Your friends are nice, once they get over the hostility bit, that is. Just don’t expect me to turn into a goody two-shoes hero.”
Ginny laughed softly. “I won’t. Want to walk me back to my common room?” She cocked her head so that she could look at him and Draco took advantage of that by pressing a short kiss to her lips.
They pulled apart and Draco grabbed her bag for her in a show of chivalry. Ginny raised her eyebrows and led the way to Gryffindor Tower, smiling all the way. Once there, Draco handed her her bag, but instead of letting go, used it to pull her against him.
“Good night,” he whispered, right before covering her mouth with his own. His hands automatically moved to her waist as her arms wrapped around his neck.
Ginny pulled back first, her breathing heavy, and gave a little chuckle. “Good night,” she murmured. Then she disappeared through the portrait hole. Draco didn’t even remember hearing her give a password.
He sighed happily and made his way down to the dungeons. He had now officially joined the fight against the Dark Lord, but because he was with Ginny, he wasn’t the least bit worried.
Author notes: What do you think? Nice and happy times for the two of them and I absolutely love the way it came out! I don't feel like it was too sappy for once! Yay! Anyway... Feel free to leave a review and tell me how you feel. Thank you to allie889, Nakita, and Rosalie for reviewing! Loves!
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