BOOM BOOM
The sound pierced the small, silent room and rang sharply through her ears causing her to cover her face with another pillow to drown out the noise. Ginny pulled the blankets up closer to her and started drifting back off to sleep when the sound rattled through her head again causing her to let out a growl of frustration. Her head was pounding so much that she swore it was about to explode when she felt the light from the hallway hit her face.
"Mum, it's like five in the morning... get out," she mumbled from under the covers and pillows.
She heard the bedroom door close again and was relieved to feel the radiating hall light leave her room and she started to drift off again into some much-needed sleep due to a very long night she had.
"So let me get this straight..."
Ginny's eyes snapped open at the sound of the voice filling her bedroom.
"....after days and days of you trying to convince me to tag along with you to your brother's shop, here you are snug as a bug in bed while I'm dressed and ready to go? I could be at home sleeping."
Ginny sat up so fast in her bed and regretted it immediately when a wave of pain pierced through her head. "What the hell are you doing in my room, Draco?" she demanded, wincing in pain at the throbbing sensation running through her brain.
Draco reached over and turned on a nearby lamp causing Ginny to moan and cover her face with her pillow.
"SHUT THAT BLOODY THING OFF!" her muffled voice shouted.
"Geez, Weasley, this room is tiny... I think my bathroom is bigger than this." he scowled, taking a seat in a nearby chair and glanced over the small cluttered bedroom.
Ginny ripped the blankets off of herself and stormed over to the lamp and went to turn it off when Draco quickly got up and blocked her from it.
"Move out of the way, Malfoy," she said angrily.
"Oh, back to last names now I see." he teased her, taking in how riled up she had gotten and how her vibrant hair was wildly sticking out all around her pale face.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "When exactly did you start calling me Ginny?" she asked, folding her arms.
Draco just smirked at her comment and then he suddenly took in her apparel and his smirk turned into a snarl.
"Damn, Weasley, put some clothes on," he demanded, turning away from her and sitting back down.
Ginny was standing there in only a tank top and underwear and after seeing how uncomfortable it made Draco it was her turn to smirk. "Maybe I don't want to put any clothes on, it's my room after all and you're the one who just barged in here," she said, placing her hands on her hips.
Draco turned back to look at her and just noticed her standing there; how she was so confident and unfazed by the fact that Draco was seeing her in her underwear. He couldn't help but take in how fit she was, mostly from playing Quidditch he assumed and he definitely couldn't stop his eyes from glancing up at her chest and how very braless it was. He quickly cleared his throat and looked anywhere else but at her.
"For God's sake, get dressed, Weasley, nobody wants to look at that." he snarled.
Ginny flashed him an amused grin before walking over to the chair he was in and placed both her hands on his knees and leaned forward. "Maybe next time I'll get to see you in your underwear" she whispered in his ear.
Draco felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his body was instantly covered in goosebumps as her breath hit his ear. The feeling of her hands on his legs made his body go stiff and he let his eyes rise up to meet hers. He felt himself suddenly grow angry towards her for the indecent gesture and he stared at her for just a moment before standing up suddenly; making her take a step back.
"I'll wait for you downstairs," he said in an angered mumble before storming out of her bedroom leaving a very amused Ginny behind.
Draco made his way outside to the front of the house and let out this huge breath of air that he didn't realize he had been holding in. He wasn't sure if he was angry at the awkward position he had just found himself in or if it was because Ginny didn't care that he attempted to humiliate her in front of him when he made it a point to make sure her lack of clothing didn't go unnoticed. His thoughts must have been lingering a lot longer on the scene that had taken place in Ginny's bedroom because when he turned around to finally stop pacing, he saw Ginny coming out of the house dressed and ready to go. He suddenly became very annoyed when he saw she had a huge smile on her face and was trying to stifle a few giggles.
"Oh, chill out, Draco... you should have seen your face though.....priceless," she laughed, pushing him lightly as she walked past him.
"Chill out? I guess you're used to guys seeing you in your underwear, then?" he said with a smirk.
"Oh yes, every night a new guy... why do you think I have a splitting headache... it's obviously because guy one hundred and ten was screwing my brains out last night" she said.
Draco stopped suddenly and just looked at her as she stopped and took out her wand. "Really?" he asked.
Ginny looked at him and saw he was actually serious in his question. "WHAT? NO! Of course not." she laughed.
Draco shook his head at her choice of humor and then walked towards her where she stretched out her hand for his. He looked at it for a moment before reluctantly taking it and apparating to Hogsmeade. When Draco's feet hit the cobblestone street, he saw they were in a side alley a little bit away from the joke shop and quickly tightened his grip on his wand.
"Relax Draco, it's barely six in the morning, none of the shops are open yet and there's hardly anyone on the streets," Ginny said before walking ahead of him to the shop.
After deciding that the area looked secure, he pocketed his wand and quickly ran to catch up with her.
"So what's wrong with your head anyway?" he asked, trying to get his mind off of the worst case scenarios that were playing out in his head from him being outside of the Manor after all these years.
"Ugh, I drank way too much last night... I had only gotten in at like three in the morning and was enjoying such a peaceful night's sleep until your bloody fists starting pounding on my door." she snapped, shooting him a quick glare.
"A hangover huh? Didn't think that was your kind of thing, Weaslette."
"My thing? You mean that I went to a party? Oh yeah, big shocker there"
"No, I meant the drinking, Weasley," he snapped at her. Draco wasn't sure why she was annoying him so much, perhaps it was her sarcastic comments or that no matter how much he tried to offend her she didn't seem to care.
"What kind of party was it?" he finally asked after a few moments of them walking in silence.
Ginny glanced at him for a moment, "Uh, it's just a hangout spot I go to every now and again... I'd tell you where, but......" she opened the shop door and then turned to look at him. "Then I'd have to kill you," she said with a giant smirk before heading inside.
He pulled the door open after her "AND I'M THE ONE WHO'S DRAMATIC?" he shouted out before shaking his head at just how much she was getting under his skin today.
Draco walked into the shop and was immediately brought back to his Hogwarts days when he saw the different products the Weasley's had on the shelves, some of which they tested out in the halls of the school. He couldn't help the tiniest of smiles that pulled at his lips as he made his way around the store. He overheard George's voice come from down the aisle as he watched Ginny approach her brothers; giving Percy a tight hug and kind of brushing off George's attempt to pull her into one as well. He thought it was a bit odd to see any of the Weasley's deny affection from one another, but didn't have a chance to dwell on that as George came over and gave him a hard slap on the back.
"Glad you could make it, Draco, we could really use the help this morning," he said, gesturing to the stacked boxes of merchandise he had sitting in the middle of the store awaiting a proper space on the shelves.
"Oh goody," Draco drawled as he glared at Ginny for convincing him to come along.
______________________________________________
A half hour had gone by and Draco found himself leaning against one of the nearby shelves deep in thought. He would occasionally cut open a box of supplies and slide it over for Ginny to stock on the shelves. There were barely any people out on the streets still, with the exception of a few shop owners or early shoppers passing by. Every time a person passed the front window Draco would snap his head up to watch them walk by until they were clear out of sight.
"You think you can do something other than stand there and stare off into space?" Ginny snapped, waiting for him to slide her the next box.
He turned to look at her for a moment before he slid the next box over and then just watched her for a moment. She seemed to be deep in thought herself about something and by how she was working at a vigorous pace it must not have been about anything pleasant. She certainly had an image in her head of how she wanted everything laid out before she even got the product out of the box which made Draco assume she had been helping her brothers out at the shop for a while now.
"You see something you like?" Ginny teased him; catching him staring at her.
Draco gave her a disgusted sneer and then turned his attention to the front window once more. "I was just thinking how perfect this scene suits you. On your knees down on the floor just-OOF" He was cut off by something hitting him hard in the chest, "WHAT THE HELL, WEASLEY?" he shouted, picking up a box she threw at him containing mini dungbombs.
"Well, watch the way you talk to a lady," she laughed.
"A lady? Pft..... and what if these would have gone off?" he ranted, scowling at her as he gently placed them down on a nearby shelf.
"There you go again......being all dramatic," she said, rolling her eyes and going back to work.
Before Draco could respond with an insult, George came walking over. "How's it coming along over here guys?"
Ginny just shook her head in annoyance and shrugged, "Fine," she said in a low voice.
George nodded and then watched his sister for a moment before deciding on his next question. "Listen, Gin, Percy and I were thinking you could come have dinner tonight with-"
"Can I please just finish with this?" she snapped, cutting him off before giving him a quick annoyed glance.
"Oh yeah....yeah of course..... I'll leave you guys to it then," He said with a forced smile before quickly walking away.
Draco felt bad for the bloke, it was apparent that Ginny had hurt his feelings and it was quite awkward to watch, especially since George was the total opposite of what he had just witnessed.
"What the hell was that about?" Draco asked after George was far enough away.
"What was what about?" Ginny asked, becoming more annoyed.
"Uh, with your brother.... why were you-"
"WHY WAS I WHAT?" she suddenly shouted; standing up and throwing an empty box aside.
He raised an eyebrow at her reaction and just decided to shrug it off before grabbing the next box and cutting it open.
"Explain to me again why we can't use magic to open these damn boxes," he said as he struggled to make a clean cut down the center of the box.
Ginny rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance as she grabbed the box and the blade from Draco and quickly swiped the blade down the box. "See? Not that hard," she said before tossing the blade on top of the next box ready to be opened and continued stocking.
Draco just stared at her; she was obviously bothered by something.......probably her brother he assumed.... or maybe with him? He doubted it though, otherwise, why would she go out of her way to keep showing up at his house or to get him to join her during this degrading task. Maybe she really was just trying to help her father out and would do anything to better his chances of getting the position. Well of course she was, why would he think she had a different motive other than that?
"You're bleeding"
Draco was pulled from his thoughts. "What?"
"Your hand...... it's bleeding" Ginny said in a soft voice, walking over to him and pulling out her wand. "I think that's enough box cutting for one day." she teased him, grabbing his hand and waving her wand over his cut and giving it a quick kiss. "There..... all better," she said with a playful smile.
Once again, he found himself just staring at her...... why was it bothering him that she was so comfortable around him. Nothing seemed to get to her and when it did, it wasn't for very long, it was pushed aside and she was once again in the brightest of spirits it seemed.
His eyes quickly darted up to the front window behind her where a silhouette of a person stood. His eyes grew wide when he made out the face and his hand quickly reached for his wand.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked when she saw his facial expression change to one of pure hatred and anger.
Her eyes followed his to the window behind her and before she could ask who that was she found herself face down in a pile of broken glass and debris. Everything seemed to be in slow motion and the only thing she could hear was a loud ringing in her ears as she looked side to side to see what happened. The front window was completely shattered and almost the whole front of the store was completely blasted apart. She saw Draco waste no time jumping to his feet and running towards the culprit even though she knew he must be just as disoriented as she was. She could hear George and Percy yelling after her as she too pulled herself up from the floor and ran after Draco.
As soon as she made it to the street the ringing in her ears turned to the sound of a curse zooming past her, causing her hair to whip wildly around her face. She saw Draco up ahead running as fast as he could after this man who he apparently had some unfinished business with. She took off after him while she dodged the spells being thrown around ahead of her as she tried to keep up with them both. She finally saw Draco come to a stop as he lost the man he had been so desperately trying to catch, making her almost slam right into him.
"Draco, what the hell is going on? Who was that?" she quickly asked, as she too swiftly glanced all around to see if she could spot the man.
"I think he went this way," Draco said through heavy breaths as he took off running again.
"DRACO, WAIT!" Ginny yelled after him as she too began running again.
He came to another stop as he looked everywhere for the person while completely ignoring Ginny's constant questioning. She grabbed his arm to try and snap him out of his current state of mind, but there was no use; he just kept walking even as she stood in front of him and pushed past her like she wasn't even there. She watched his eyes darting wildly around the dimly lit streets and alleyways for any sign of the man. Ginny was just about to speak again when a spell flew at them that Draco quickly blocked and then Ginny saw someone down the street ahead of them. They were just standing there, waiting for Draco to run after them; he wanted Draco to follow him and by the way Ginny saw how eager Draco was to catch him, she knew he would.
Draco went to take off again towards him when Ginny held up her hands to try and stop him. "Draco, no, they want you to follow them, whatever this is about they are luring you into a trap, don't you see that?" she pleaded with him.
"Stay out of my way, Weasley," he said through clenched teeth; his eyes on the figure down the alley the whole time.
Before Ginny could say anything more, there were spells flying everywhere; forcing her to take cover behind a nearby wall. She had her wand gripped tightly and her heart was racing as a familiar wave of adrenaline filled her and then a slight smirk tugged at her lips. There were so many spells flying at them that she hardly doubted they came from just one person. She knew there must've been others with this mysterious person that Draco seemed to have a personal vendetta against.
Ginny went to go peek around the side of the building she was against when a green spell flew past her face. Having that killing curse breeze past her brought back so many memories of one of the worst days she had ever lived through. She was suddenly filled with rage and desperation to hurt these people attacking her and she gripped her wand even tighter and threw out one of the most powerful Bombarda spells she could possibly muster up.
The force behind that blasting spell was stronger than she thought as debris of buildings, street and anything else in its way exploded past her and Draco; making them take further cover. She quickly ran over to where Draco was and crouched down beside him as they waited for the effects of the spell to clear out. She shot a quick glance at Draco, who quickly looked at her before he turned his attention back to where the man once stood. Just as she was about to talk Draco into going back he was already sprinting down the street in search of the man.
"Dammit, Draco," she mumbled as she ran after him again.
She was running after him for a few moments before she realized he was running blindly after this mystery man. She quickly stopped and looked down a side alley that she knew was the only other way to head out of Hogsmeade and decided to take a chance in hopes of tracking down this person that Draco so desperately wanted to get his hands on. Her heart was racing as she barreled down the side road and sure enough she saw the same figure zoom past her ahead. She suddenly changed her course and hopped a small wall that led to another part of the street up ahead and quickly ran to try and cut him off. She ran as fast as she could towards the main road ahead, hoping she timed her little detour just right and just as the thought entered her mind she slammed right into him.
They both fell to the ground and Ginny quickly scrambled to get up and grab her wand that had fallen out of her hand when she felt her body slam against the stone building behind her. She felt the man's hand pushed against her chest; pinning her to the wall and his wand pointed closely to her face. Her eyes locked with his for a moment and he had a look of surprise on his face.
"You?" He whispered through his heavy breaths.
Ginny studied the man in front of her and he was hardly a man at all; he was definitely younger than she was and looked to be barely out of his teenage years. She narrowed her eyes at him in confusion; did she know him? He didn't look familiar.... so why did it seem like he knew her?
His facial expression quickly turned to one of equal confusion and he suddenly pinned her tighter and gripped his wand firmly. Before he could mutter a spell out, Draco ran right into him and tackled him to the ground and started beating on him. Ginny just stood there for a moment in bewilderment as the last few moments replayed in her head and then she turned her attention to the two men fighting. She wasn't even certain if she should stop Draco..... did this person deserve the fate Draco was about to bring down on him or did Draco just completely go mental on her and was about to earn a one-way ticket to St. Mungo's.....or worse, Azkaban.
Before Ginny could stop Draco from throwing the next punch a binding spell hit him from the back making him fall to the ground. Ginny watched him struggle to try and break free and quickly went to grab her wand off the ground. She had just picked it up and before she could even turn around, she felt a wand against her cheek.
"Drop it," she heard a man's voice behind her say.
She turned to face the person who had her at wand point and saw there was indeed more than one person who had been throwing those spells. She must have counted about five different men standing around them until her eyes fell on the man in front of her; again the same surprised look flashed across his face as it did the young man earlier that Draco tackled. She took that chance to quickly bring her wand up and throw a spell at the man sending him backwards onto the ground. She threw a quick spell towards Draco that freed him of the binding charm and he quickly jumped to his feet and ran towards her.
She shot a spell right over Draco's shoulder that shielded him from a curse flying right at his back and then turned on her heel prompting him to follow her. She ran down a side alley and then into one of the many abandoned shops of Hogsmeade with Draco right behind her.
"Why the bloody hell did you bring us here, you practically gift wrapped us for them," he shot angrily at her.
"Oh, now you're actually wanting to get away from them?" she sarcastically said to him with a smirk as she ran up the staircase.
He quickly followed her and then saw her open one of the upstairs windows and crawl through it onto a ledge. He stuck his head out the window to watch her shimmy herself against the building and over to another taller building and pull herself up onto a higher ledge.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" he called out to her.
"Shut up and follow me," she said sternly before climbing higher onto the connected building's roof.
He muttered a few foul things under his breath before climbing out of the window and started following her. He turned around to look at the window he had just crawled from and contemplated something for a moment. He suddenly went to take a step back towards the window when Ginny's voice rang out and stopped him.
"What are you doing? Let's go"
"I can't just run away from this, I-"
"You're kidding me, right?" She said, quickly climbing back down to where he was. "Are you mental? We are outnumbered and I'm not exactly sure what unfinished business you have with these people, but it's going to have to stay unfinished right now so LETS GO." she said the last part firmly.
"But-" Draco didn't get to fight her on it as a spell hit the window they had just crawled from and glass flew everywhere.
Ginny didn't bother arguing with him; instead, she just grabbed his arm firmly and pulled him to follow her back up on the roof. She started leading the way in and out of buildings that connected and lined the streets of Hogsmeade to try and keep them off their trail until they had a clear chance to apparate somewhere. She thought about the adrenaline rush she was getting from this whole situation and didn't want it to end yet. She thought about how messed up that sounded in her head as she continued to hug the wall of a building with Draco close behind her.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she lost her balance as a spell flew past her and hit the wall she was leaning against causing bricks and other debris to explode beside her. She slipped off the ledge and grabbed it with her hand as she dangled from the crumbling building. She saw Draco making an attempt to help her up, but part of the ledge was blasted apart and he couldn't reach her.
Ginny quickly noticed there was a window where her feet were hanging and quickly swung them forward to bust in the glass and then threw herself in through the opening. She felt a spell graze her hand as she leaped into the window and felt a burning sensation run up the side of her hand. She quickly ignored it and heard someone on the floor above her and figured it was Draco, who made his way inside the building to meet her.
She ran towards the stairwell and was suddenly slammed face first into the wall by someone who she knew not to be Draco. She gripped her wand tightly and tried to throw a curse at the man holding her, but he was trying to get her to drop her wand before she could. She threw herself backward onto the man and they both fell over the railing; Ginny's side collided with the banister one level down and the man fell to the ground below. She heard a crack and winced in pain as she grabbed the railing to keep herself from falling off the floor landing.
"WEASLEY!" Draco called out as he ran down to her. He pulled her over the metal railing and saw she had been hurt. "Are you-?"
"I'm fine," she quickly said before heading back up the stairs. "We need to keep moving and get to a safe spot where we could apparate. The last thing you want is these people following you home and into your wards," she explained as he followed her up to the highest level.
They had soon reached the roof and took in their surroundings and it wasn't long before more spells came flying at them.
"Let's just take a chance and apparate from here.... you're obviously hurt, Weasley."
"Oh, shut it, I've been through worse, "she said, ignoring his suggestion as she looked for a clear opening to make a run for it."We just need to make it to one of those side alleys on the street, there are tons of places to hide long enough to apparate out of here, but we need to move fast... it's just a matter of moments before Aurors show up." she explained, making a quick dash to the side of the building and down a ladder.
As soon as they both were back on the ground they were surrounded by a group of men. Ginny wasn't sure how these people managed to get ahead of them until she realized these were different men waiting there for them. Ginny had her wand gripped tightly and didn't care that they were outnumbered; she threw out as many spells as her mind could think of and it wasn't long before complete chaos followed.
Ginny wasn't really sure what happened next, only that she saw Draco get hit with some curse and now he was on his knees holding his face. She could barely make out who was who during the constant spells flying all around, however, she could tell that Aurors had finally arrived and that's where the focus had gone to. She took the opportunity to run to Draco's side and quickly looked him over to see what was wrong. He kept opening and closing his eyes tightly and then rubbing them; he winced in pain as his eyes started turning puffy and red.
"Are you ok?"
"What the hell did they hit me with?" he said through gritted teeth as he rubbed at his stinging eyes.
"I don't know, but we need to get out of here, Aurors just got here," she said, quickly grabbing him and running into a side alley.
"STOP!"
Ginny suddenly heard someone shout out to her and she found herself quickly disarmed as the sound of her wand hitting the ground echoed in the alleyway. Her stomach suddenly twisted into a knot as she knew all too well whose voice that belonged to.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, GINNY? ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU EVEN THINKING?"
She turned around to see him walking quickly up to her and looking her quickly over.
"Harry, you don't even know what happ-"
"JUST STOP!" he yelled. He looked over his shoulder real quick to make sure the alley was still clear and then back at her and Draco and took in their condition. Draco was clearly hit with something that was affecting his vision as he kept trying to rub his eyes and kept cursing under his breath at the pain it seemed to be causing him. "Get him back to the Manor and stay the hell put until I get there," he said sternly and looked at Ginny with a mixture of disappointment and concern before handing back her wand.
Ginny locked eyes with him for a moment and then with a quick pop she was suddenly standing outside the wards of Malfoy Manor........again.
The sound pierced the small, silent room and rang sharply through her ears causing her to cover her face with another pillow to drown out the noise. Ginny pulled the blankets up closer to her and started drifting back off to sleep when the sound rattled through her head again causing her to let out a growl of frustration. Her head was pounding so much that she swore it was about to explode when she felt the light from the hallway hit her face.
"Mum, it's like five in the morning... get out," she mumbled from under the covers and pillows.
She heard the bedroom door close again and was relieved to feel the radiating hall light leave her room and she started to drift off again into some much-needed sleep due to a very long night she had.
"So let me get this straight..."
Ginny's eyes snapped open at the sound of the voice filling her bedroom.
"....after days and days of you trying to convince me to tag along with you to your brother's shop, here you are snug as a bug in bed while I'm dressed and ready to go? I could be at home sleeping."
Ginny sat up so fast in her bed and regretted it immediately when a wave of pain pierced through her head. "What the hell are you doing in my room, Draco?" she demanded, wincing in pain at the throbbing sensation running through her brain.
Draco reached over and turned on a nearby lamp causing Ginny to moan and cover her face with her pillow.
"SHUT THAT BLOODY THING OFF!" her muffled voice shouted.
"Geez, Weasley, this room is tiny... I think my bathroom is bigger than this." he scowled, taking a seat in a nearby chair and glanced over the small cluttered bedroom.
Ginny ripped the blankets off of herself and stormed over to the lamp and went to turn it off when Draco quickly got up and blocked her from it.
"Move out of the way, Malfoy," she said angrily.
"Oh, back to last names now I see." he teased her, taking in how riled up she had gotten and how her vibrant hair was wildly sticking out all around her pale face.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "When exactly did you start calling me Ginny?" she asked, folding her arms.
Draco just smirked at her comment and then he suddenly took in her apparel and his smirk turned into a snarl.
"Damn, Weasley, put some clothes on," he demanded, turning away from her and sitting back down.
Ginny was standing there in only a tank top and underwear and after seeing how uncomfortable it made Draco it was her turn to smirk. "Maybe I don't want to put any clothes on, it's my room after all and you're the one who just barged in here," she said, placing her hands on her hips.
Draco turned back to look at her and just noticed her standing there; how she was so confident and unfazed by the fact that Draco was seeing her in her underwear. He couldn't help but take in how fit she was, mostly from playing Quidditch he assumed and he definitely couldn't stop his eyes from glancing up at her chest and how very braless it was. He quickly cleared his throat and looked anywhere else but at her.
"For God's sake, get dressed, Weasley, nobody wants to look at that." he snarled.
Ginny flashed him an amused grin before walking over to the chair he was in and placed both her hands on his knees and leaned forward. "Maybe next time I'll get to see you in your underwear" she whispered in his ear.
Draco felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his body was instantly covered in goosebumps as her breath hit his ear. The feeling of her hands on his legs made his body go stiff and he let his eyes rise up to meet hers. He felt himself suddenly grow angry towards her for the indecent gesture and he stared at her for just a moment before standing up suddenly; making her take a step back.
"I'll wait for you downstairs," he said in an angered mumble before storming out of her bedroom leaving a very amused Ginny behind.
Draco made his way outside to the front of the house and let out this huge breath of air that he didn't realize he had been holding in. He wasn't sure if he was angry at the awkward position he had just found himself in or if it was because Ginny didn't care that he attempted to humiliate her in front of him when he made it a point to make sure her lack of clothing didn't go unnoticed. His thoughts must have been lingering a lot longer on the scene that had taken place in Ginny's bedroom because when he turned around to finally stop pacing, he saw Ginny coming out of the house dressed and ready to go. He suddenly became very annoyed when he saw she had a huge smile on her face and was trying to stifle a few giggles.
"Oh, chill out, Draco... you should have seen your face though.....priceless," she laughed, pushing him lightly as she walked past him.
"Chill out? I guess you're used to guys seeing you in your underwear, then?" he said with a smirk.
"Oh yes, every night a new guy... why do you think I have a splitting headache... it's obviously because guy one hundred and ten was screwing my brains out last night" she said.
Draco stopped suddenly and just looked at her as she stopped and took out her wand. "Really?" he asked.
Ginny looked at him and saw he was actually serious in his question. "WHAT? NO! Of course not." she laughed.
Draco shook his head at her choice of humor and then walked towards her where she stretched out her hand for his. He looked at it for a moment before reluctantly taking it and apparating to Hogsmeade. When Draco's feet hit the cobblestone street, he saw they were in a side alley a little bit away from the joke shop and quickly tightened his grip on his wand.
"Relax Draco, it's barely six in the morning, none of the shops are open yet and there's hardly anyone on the streets," Ginny said before walking ahead of him to the shop.
After deciding that the area looked secure, he pocketed his wand and quickly ran to catch up with her.
"So what's wrong with your head anyway?" he asked, trying to get his mind off of the worst case scenarios that were playing out in his head from him being outside of the Manor after all these years.
"Ugh, I drank way too much last night... I had only gotten in at like three in the morning and was enjoying such a peaceful night's sleep until your bloody fists starting pounding on my door." she snapped, shooting him a quick glare.
"A hangover huh? Didn't think that was your kind of thing, Weaslette."
"My thing? You mean that I went to a party? Oh yeah, big shocker there"
"No, I meant the drinking, Weasley," he snapped at her. Draco wasn't sure why she was annoying him so much, perhaps it was her sarcastic comments or that no matter how much he tried to offend her she didn't seem to care.
"What kind of party was it?" he finally asked after a few moments of them walking in silence.
Ginny glanced at him for a moment, "Uh, it's just a hangout spot I go to every now and again... I'd tell you where, but......" she opened the shop door and then turned to look at him. "Then I'd have to kill you," she said with a giant smirk before heading inside.
He pulled the door open after her "AND I'M THE ONE WHO'S DRAMATIC?" he shouted out before shaking his head at just how much she was getting under his skin today.
Draco walked into the shop and was immediately brought back to his Hogwarts days when he saw the different products the Weasley's had on the shelves, some of which they tested out in the halls of the school. He couldn't help the tiniest of smiles that pulled at his lips as he made his way around the store. He overheard George's voice come from down the aisle as he watched Ginny approach her brothers; giving Percy a tight hug and kind of brushing off George's attempt to pull her into one as well. He thought it was a bit odd to see any of the Weasley's deny affection from one another, but didn't have a chance to dwell on that as George came over and gave him a hard slap on the back.
"Glad you could make it, Draco, we could really use the help this morning," he said, gesturing to the stacked boxes of merchandise he had sitting in the middle of the store awaiting a proper space on the shelves.
"Oh goody," Draco drawled as he glared at Ginny for convincing him to come along.
______________________________________________
A half hour had gone by and Draco found himself leaning against one of the nearby shelves deep in thought. He would occasionally cut open a box of supplies and slide it over for Ginny to stock on the shelves. There were barely any people out on the streets still, with the exception of a few shop owners or early shoppers passing by. Every time a person passed the front window Draco would snap his head up to watch them walk by until they were clear out of sight.
"You think you can do something other than stand there and stare off into space?" Ginny snapped, waiting for him to slide her the next box.
He turned to look at her for a moment before he slid the next box over and then just watched her for a moment. She seemed to be deep in thought herself about something and by how she was working at a vigorous pace it must not have been about anything pleasant. She certainly had an image in her head of how she wanted everything laid out before she even got the product out of the box which made Draco assume she had been helping her brothers out at the shop for a while now.
"You see something you like?" Ginny teased him; catching him staring at her.
Draco gave her a disgusted sneer and then turned his attention to the front window once more. "I was just thinking how perfect this scene suits you. On your knees down on the floor just-OOF" He was cut off by something hitting him hard in the chest, "WHAT THE HELL, WEASLEY?" he shouted, picking up a box she threw at him containing mini dungbombs.
"Well, watch the way you talk to a lady," she laughed.
"A lady? Pft..... and what if these would have gone off?" he ranted, scowling at her as he gently placed them down on a nearby shelf.
"There you go again......being all dramatic," she said, rolling her eyes and going back to work.
Before Draco could respond with an insult, George came walking over. "How's it coming along over here guys?"
Ginny just shook her head in annoyance and shrugged, "Fine," she said in a low voice.
George nodded and then watched his sister for a moment before deciding on his next question. "Listen, Gin, Percy and I were thinking you could come have dinner tonight with-"
"Can I please just finish with this?" she snapped, cutting him off before giving him a quick annoyed glance.
"Oh yeah....yeah of course..... I'll leave you guys to it then," He said with a forced smile before quickly walking away.
Draco felt bad for the bloke, it was apparent that Ginny had hurt his feelings and it was quite awkward to watch, especially since George was the total opposite of what he had just witnessed.
"What the hell was that about?" Draco asked after George was far enough away.
"What was what about?" Ginny asked, becoming more annoyed.
"Uh, with your brother.... why were you-"
"WHY WAS I WHAT?" she suddenly shouted; standing up and throwing an empty box aside.
He raised an eyebrow at her reaction and just decided to shrug it off before grabbing the next box and cutting it open.
"Explain to me again why we can't use magic to open these damn boxes," he said as he struggled to make a clean cut down the center of the box.
Ginny rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance as she grabbed the box and the blade from Draco and quickly swiped the blade down the box. "See? Not that hard," she said before tossing the blade on top of the next box ready to be opened and continued stocking.
Draco just stared at her; she was obviously bothered by something.......probably her brother he assumed.... or maybe with him? He doubted it though, otherwise, why would she go out of her way to keep showing up at his house or to get him to join her during this degrading task. Maybe she really was just trying to help her father out and would do anything to better his chances of getting the position. Well of course she was, why would he think she had a different motive other than that?
"You're bleeding"
Draco was pulled from his thoughts. "What?"
"Your hand...... it's bleeding" Ginny said in a soft voice, walking over to him and pulling out her wand. "I think that's enough box cutting for one day." she teased him, grabbing his hand and waving her wand over his cut and giving it a quick kiss. "There..... all better," she said with a playful smile.
Once again, he found himself just staring at her...... why was it bothering him that she was so comfortable around him. Nothing seemed to get to her and when it did, it wasn't for very long, it was pushed aside and she was once again in the brightest of spirits it seemed.
His eyes quickly darted up to the front window behind her where a silhouette of a person stood. His eyes grew wide when he made out the face and his hand quickly reached for his wand.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked when she saw his facial expression change to one of pure hatred and anger.
Her eyes followed his to the window behind her and before she could ask who that was she found herself face down in a pile of broken glass and debris. Everything seemed to be in slow motion and the only thing she could hear was a loud ringing in her ears as she looked side to side to see what happened. The front window was completely shattered and almost the whole front of the store was completely blasted apart. She saw Draco waste no time jumping to his feet and running towards the culprit even though she knew he must be just as disoriented as she was. She could hear George and Percy yelling after her as she too pulled herself up from the floor and ran after Draco.
As soon as she made it to the street the ringing in her ears turned to the sound of a curse zooming past her, causing her hair to whip wildly around her face. She saw Draco up ahead running as fast as he could after this man who he apparently had some unfinished business with. She took off after him while she dodged the spells being thrown around ahead of her as she tried to keep up with them both. She finally saw Draco come to a stop as he lost the man he had been so desperately trying to catch, making her almost slam right into him.
"Draco, what the hell is going on? Who was that?" she quickly asked, as she too swiftly glanced all around to see if she could spot the man.
"I think he went this way," Draco said through heavy breaths as he took off running again.
"DRACO, WAIT!" Ginny yelled after him as she too began running again.
He came to another stop as he looked everywhere for the person while completely ignoring Ginny's constant questioning. She grabbed his arm to try and snap him out of his current state of mind, but there was no use; he just kept walking even as she stood in front of him and pushed past her like she wasn't even there. She watched his eyes darting wildly around the dimly lit streets and alleyways for any sign of the man. Ginny was just about to speak again when a spell flew at them that Draco quickly blocked and then Ginny saw someone down the street ahead of them. They were just standing there, waiting for Draco to run after them; he wanted Draco to follow him and by the way Ginny saw how eager Draco was to catch him, she knew he would.
Draco went to take off again towards him when Ginny held up her hands to try and stop him. "Draco, no, they want you to follow them, whatever this is about they are luring you into a trap, don't you see that?" she pleaded with him.
"Stay out of my way, Weasley," he said through clenched teeth; his eyes on the figure down the alley the whole time.
Before Ginny could say anything more, there were spells flying everywhere; forcing her to take cover behind a nearby wall. She had her wand gripped tightly and her heart was racing as a familiar wave of adrenaline filled her and then a slight smirk tugged at her lips. There were so many spells flying at them that she hardly doubted they came from just one person. She knew there must've been others with this mysterious person that Draco seemed to have a personal vendetta against.
Ginny went to go peek around the side of the building she was against when a green spell flew past her face. Having that killing curse breeze past her brought back so many memories of one of the worst days she had ever lived through. She was suddenly filled with rage and desperation to hurt these people attacking her and she gripped her wand even tighter and threw out one of the most powerful Bombarda spells she could possibly muster up.
The force behind that blasting spell was stronger than she thought as debris of buildings, street and anything else in its way exploded past her and Draco; making them take further cover. She quickly ran over to where Draco was and crouched down beside him as they waited for the effects of the spell to clear out. She shot a quick glance at Draco, who quickly looked at her before he turned his attention back to where the man once stood. Just as she was about to talk Draco into going back he was already sprinting down the street in search of the man.
"Dammit, Draco," she mumbled as she ran after him again.
She was running after him for a few moments before she realized he was running blindly after this mystery man. She quickly stopped and looked down a side alley that she knew was the only other way to head out of Hogsmeade and decided to take a chance in hopes of tracking down this person that Draco so desperately wanted to get his hands on. Her heart was racing as she barreled down the side road and sure enough she saw the same figure zoom past her ahead. She suddenly changed her course and hopped a small wall that led to another part of the street up ahead and quickly ran to try and cut him off. She ran as fast as she could towards the main road ahead, hoping she timed her little detour just right and just as the thought entered her mind she slammed right into him.
They both fell to the ground and Ginny quickly scrambled to get up and grab her wand that had fallen out of her hand when she felt her body slam against the stone building behind her. She felt the man's hand pushed against her chest; pinning her to the wall and his wand pointed closely to her face. Her eyes locked with his for a moment and he had a look of surprise on his face.
"You?" He whispered through his heavy breaths.
Ginny studied the man in front of her and he was hardly a man at all; he was definitely younger than she was and looked to be barely out of his teenage years. She narrowed her eyes at him in confusion; did she know him? He didn't look familiar.... so why did it seem like he knew her?
His facial expression quickly turned to one of equal confusion and he suddenly pinned her tighter and gripped his wand firmly. Before he could mutter a spell out, Draco ran right into him and tackled him to the ground and started beating on him. Ginny just stood there for a moment in bewilderment as the last few moments replayed in her head and then she turned her attention to the two men fighting. She wasn't even certain if she should stop Draco..... did this person deserve the fate Draco was about to bring down on him or did Draco just completely go mental on her and was about to earn a one-way ticket to St. Mungo's.....or worse, Azkaban.
Before Ginny could stop Draco from throwing the next punch a binding spell hit him from the back making him fall to the ground. Ginny watched him struggle to try and break free and quickly went to grab her wand off the ground. She had just picked it up and before she could even turn around, she felt a wand against her cheek.
"Drop it," she heard a man's voice behind her say.
She turned to face the person who had her at wand point and saw there was indeed more than one person who had been throwing those spells. She must have counted about five different men standing around them until her eyes fell on the man in front of her; again the same surprised look flashed across his face as it did the young man earlier that Draco tackled. She took that chance to quickly bring her wand up and throw a spell at the man sending him backwards onto the ground. She threw a quick spell towards Draco that freed him of the binding charm and he quickly jumped to his feet and ran towards her.
She shot a spell right over Draco's shoulder that shielded him from a curse flying right at his back and then turned on her heel prompting him to follow her. She ran down a side alley and then into one of the many abandoned shops of Hogsmeade with Draco right behind her.
"Why the bloody hell did you bring us here, you practically gift wrapped us for them," he shot angrily at her.
"Oh, now you're actually wanting to get away from them?" she sarcastically said to him with a smirk as she ran up the staircase.
He quickly followed her and then saw her open one of the upstairs windows and crawl through it onto a ledge. He stuck his head out the window to watch her shimmy herself against the building and over to another taller building and pull herself up onto a higher ledge.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" he called out to her.
"Shut up and follow me," she said sternly before climbing higher onto the connected building's roof.
He muttered a few foul things under his breath before climbing out of the window and started following her. He turned around to look at the window he had just crawled from and contemplated something for a moment. He suddenly went to take a step back towards the window when Ginny's voice rang out and stopped him.
"What are you doing? Let's go"
"I can't just run away from this, I-"
"You're kidding me, right?" She said, quickly climbing back down to where he was. "Are you mental? We are outnumbered and I'm not exactly sure what unfinished business you have with these people, but it's going to have to stay unfinished right now so LETS GO." she said the last part firmly.
"But-" Draco didn't get to fight her on it as a spell hit the window they had just crawled from and glass flew everywhere.
Ginny didn't bother arguing with him; instead, she just grabbed his arm firmly and pulled him to follow her back up on the roof. She started leading the way in and out of buildings that connected and lined the streets of Hogsmeade to try and keep them off their trail until they had a clear chance to apparate somewhere. She thought about the adrenaline rush she was getting from this whole situation and didn't want it to end yet. She thought about how messed up that sounded in her head as she continued to hug the wall of a building with Draco close behind her.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she lost her balance as a spell flew past her and hit the wall she was leaning against causing bricks and other debris to explode beside her. She slipped off the ledge and grabbed it with her hand as she dangled from the crumbling building. She saw Draco making an attempt to help her up, but part of the ledge was blasted apart and he couldn't reach her.
Ginny quickly noticed there was a window where her feet were hanging and quickly swung them forward to bust in the glass and then threw herself in through the opening. She felt a spell graze her hand as she leaped into the window and felt a burning sensation run up the side of her hand. She quickly ignored it and heard someone on the floor above her and figured it was Draco, who made his way inside the building to meet her.
She ran towards the stairwell and was suddenly slammed face first into the wall by someone who she knew not to be Draco. She gripped her wand tightly and tried to throw a curse at the man holding her, but he was trying to get her to drop her wand before she could. She threw herself backward onto the man and they both fell over the railing; Ginny's side collided with the banister one level down and the man fell to the ground below. She heard a crack and winced in pain as she grabbed the railing to keep herself from falling off the floor landing.
"WEASLEY!" Draco called out as he ran down to her. He pulled her over the metal railing and saw she had been hurt. "Are you-?"
"I'm fine," she quickly said before heading back up the stairs. "We need to keep moving and get to a safe spot where we could apparate. The last thing you want is these people following you home and into your wards," she explained as he followed her up to the highest level.
They had soon reached the roof and took in their surroundings and it wasn't long before more spells came flying at them.
"Let's just take a chance and apparate from here.... you're obviously hurt, Weasley."
"Oh, shut it, I've been through worse, "she said, ignoring his suggestion as she looked for a clear opening to make a run for it."We just need to make it to one of those side alleys on the street, there are tons of places to hide long enough to apparate out of here, but we need to move fast... it's just a matter of moments before Aurors show up." she explained, making a quick dash to the side of the building and down a ladder.
As soon as they both were back on the ground they were surrounded by a group of men. Ginny wasn't sure how these people managed to get ahead of them until she realized these were different men waiting there for them. Ginny had her wand gripped tightly and didn't care that they were outnumbered; she threw out as many spells as her mind could think of and it wasn't long before complete chaos followed.
Ginny wasn't really sure what happened next, only that she saw Draco get hit with some curse and now he was on his knees holding his face. She could barely make out who was who during the constant spells flying all around, however, she could tell that Aurors had finally arrived and that's where the focus had gone to. She took the opportunity to run to Draco's side and quickly looked him over to see what was wrong. He kept opening and closing his eyes tightly and then rubbing them; he winced in pain as his eyes started turning puffy and red.
"Are you ok?"
"What the hell did they hit me with?" he said through gritted teeth as he rubbed at his stinging eyes.
"I don't know, but we need to get out of here, Aurors just got here," she said, quickly grabbing him and running into a side alley.
"STOP!"
Ginny suddenly heard someone shout out to her and she found herself quickly disarmed as the sound of her wand hitting the ground echoed in the alleyway. Her stomach suddenly twisted into a knot as she knew all too well whose voice that belonged to.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, GINNY? ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU EVEN THINKING?"
She turned around to see him walking quickly up to her and looking her quickly over.
"Harry, you don't even know what happ-"
"JUST STOP!" he yelled. He looked over his shoulder real quick to make sure the alley was still clear and then back at her and Draco and took in their condition. Draco was clearly hit with something that was affecting his vision as he kept trying to rub his eyes and kept cursing under his breath at the pain it seemed to be causing him. "Get him back to the Manor and stay the hell put until I get there," he said sternly and looked at Ginny with a mixture of disappointment and concern before handing back her wand.
Ginny locked eyes with him for a moment and then with a quick pop she was suddenly standing outside the wards of Malfoy Manor........again.
Author notes: Ok, so what do you guys think? I know, I know, more questions and no answers, ...soon. Feedback is much appreciated!
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