9
Ginny woke up to a loud crash. Light poured through the windows of an unfamiliar room and she found herself on a couch with a blanket thrown over her. I must have fallen asleep at Blaise's, she realized. It felt good to have her memories line up for once.
Loud thumps came from the room over and louder swearing.
"What the bloody hell is the matter with you?!"
"I said tell me where she is right now, you sodding bastard!"
"Draco, calm down—"
"I will NOT calm the hell down! She doesn't have a wand, doesn't have a broom, and no one saw her leave the hotel. The only thing is Floo activity to your sodding house and you're telling me to bloody calm down?!"
Ginny scrambled into the next room. Draco pinned Blaise to the wall by his throat, leveling his wand at the other man's face.
"What the hell is going on?!" Ginny demanded.
Draco spun, lowering his wand. "Ginny!"
Blaise shoved Draco away from him. "You're bloody mental, mate."
Catching his balance, Draco coughed. "Sorry. I overreacted a bit."
Blaise snorted. "A bit?"
Ginny still couldn't believe what she had just seen. From the look on Draco's face, he couldn't either.
"Lovely first re-impression," Blaise muttered.
Draco's jaw clenched, and some buried memory told Ginny it was in anger at himself. She gestured toward Blaise. "You want to explain what just happened?"
The blond sighed. "You weren't in the hotel room and I panicked. Why are you at Blaise's place, anyway?"
"What, you object to me seducing your girlfriend?"
"BLAISE!" Draco reprimanded and Ginny complained.
"Draco, can I talk to you somewhere that's…" She struggled with the words. "...not here?"
Draco smirked. "Of course. But personally, I think it's the company, not the location, that you're protesting."
"I resent that!" Blaise yelled as the couple Apparated away.
• • •
At the side of a disused corridor, the redheaded girl and the blond boy had their arms wrapped around each other, kissing desperately. Footsteps approached. Instantly, they broke off, staring towards the sound. The brown-haired I.S. boy and the vicious boy turned down the corridor, illuminated by their own lantern. Still in the dark, the blond and the redhead weren't yet visible.
The redhead tugged the blond away, pulling him behind a statue. When she leaned against the stone wall at its rear, the wall opened inwardly. Happily, the blond boy followed her inside.
He pulled her against himself, about to resume, when footsteps sounded from the end of this passage, too.
A girl's voice laughed. "Neville, we'll be hung from our ankles if we try to pull that!"
The redhead flicked her head toward the voices at the end of the passageway then back toward the entrance into the corridor with the I.S. members.
The blond boy touched her arm. "Disillusionment Charm," he whispered, casting it on himself. Immediately, his shape blended in with the stone behind. He turned his head to her and she could see the stones ripple where his face would be.
The redhead whispered, casting the same charm on herself. Stones spread across her skin, letting all but the wariest eye pass right over her. She and the blond boy pressed their backs against the wall. As the giggling girl and boy walked past, the blond boy laced his stony fingers through hers. The passing couple never noticed a thing.
"Bloody hell," the stone-patterned redhead whispered after the couple had gone by. "The whole school is out to get us."
Still covered in stone, the blond boy captured her own stony face with a kiss. She giggled at the odd sensation, but he was tired of waiting.
• • •
"Blaise honestly won't be mad at you?"
Draco shook his head.
"But you nearly threatened to kill him!"
He was taken aback. "I did what?!" Then he realized. "Oh. Slytherins have a 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality. If I'd really meant it, I would have already hexed him. Blaise has done the same to me, before."
"Odd sort of friendship you two have," Ginny muttered.
They strolled through Diagon Alley, Ginny enjoying taking in the location of many of her fuzzier memories. Holding his arm seemed to be second-nature and she didn't find herself questioning it. They stopped at Ollivander's to get her a new 'magic stick,' Draco kept teasing her, and then off to ice cream.
She hadn't had ice cream in forever and hadn't been sane in equally as long. It was a good combination and having a cheery blond smirking at the ice cream running down her chin made it all the more worthwhile.
The dream shattered the moment she stepped outside. Camera flashes exploded in her face.
"Miss Weasley! Where have you been for the past ten years?"
"What is the current status of the wedding?"
"Mr. Malfoy, what does your family have to say?"
"Miss Weasley, any plans to resume your Quidditch career?"
Ginny threw her hands over her face, desperately trying to shield from the flashes and reporters.
"Back off," Draco growled. They ignored him, pushing tighter around Ginny.
BANG!
All the reporters stopped in their tracks, swinging their attention to Draco. He held a smoking wand over his head. "Thank you. Now that I have your attention, I will end the career of the next person to touch Miss Weasley or take a picture of her. That is all."
He never raised his voice, simply calmly stated it as fact, placed a hand on her back, and steered her through the sea of reporters who were surprisingly eager to get out of the way.
• • •
Of course Narcissa saw the headlines. How could she not, when 26 different people all owled her a copy? Currently, she was reading the article in the Daily Prophet about the 'gallant young Malfoy heir, defending his lost jewel from the swarms eager to get a piece of her.' It was the only article with nothing but glowing reviews of the news. Narcissa always knew there was a reason they owned that newspaper.
No one had bothered to mail her that article, though. All the others spoke of Mr. Malfoy's 'barbaric behavior' and 'unnatural hatred of truth, justice, and the freedom of the press.'
"Oh, Draco," his mother sighed. "Why can't you ever just be normal?"