Fledgling

Fledgling, Chapter Three

Ginny hurried out of the Great Hall after Draco.

"Malfoy - wait -" she yelled, jogging after him. She gathered up a handful of her robes and took off after the retreating Slytherin, running out of the Entrance Hall and onto the grounds. "Malfoy!"

Draco turned. His face gave away nothing, but amusement played across his grey eyes. "You bellowed?"

Ginny skidded to a halt. "Don't leave," she said without thinking.

Draco's eyebrows shot up his forehead. "You're begging me now?" he grinned.

The petite redhead girl before him looked thoroughly put out. "Malfoy, why?"

Draco sighed loudly. "Why what?"

"Why are you talking to me now?" she asked stubbornly.

Draco grinned. "Maybe I'm just desperate for conversation."

Ginny stamped her foot. "You are NOT FUNNY!" Her hands were on her hips and she glared at Draco with every ounce of ferocity she possessed. "Stop the jokes for a while, all right?"

Draco clutched his hands to his heart and grimaced in mock horror. "Why, ma belle Virginia, I'm afraid I cannot do that which you command, for I am possessed of a devilishy good-looking and abundantly amusing soul."

"MALFOY!" Ginny yelled.

Draco lowered his hands. "What?" he asked, looking scandalised. "My inner muse is just dying to make itself heard."

Ginny marched forwards until she was no less than an inch from Draco's face. He tried not to move.

"You are a pain in the arse," Ginny growled. "Will you please, for once, just answer my question? What would make you talk to me?"

Draco looked annoyed. "I told you, my devilishy good-looking and abundantly amusing-"

SMACK. The back of Ginny's hand landed on Draco's cheek with stunning force. Draco staggered backwards, an angry white patch forming on his face. "Bloody hell, Weasley," he gasped breathlessly.

Ginny stood in front of him. "Talk to me, Malfoy."

Draco regained a measure of composure and glared at her. "Well, I would, except you seem to have broken my jaw!" he snapped. He pressed a hand gingerly to the welt, now turning bright red, and winced. "Damn it, Weasley. Did you have to do that?"

"You're talking, aren't you?"

"Shut it," Draco muttered. Ginny smiled contentedly. "Now would you mind answering the question?"

"What question? Yes, I am indeed talking," Draco affirmed.

"Not that question. The other one."

"Refresh my memory, would you? I think a piece of my brain got knocked loose when you hit me."

Ginny enunciated each word very slowly and clearly. "Why - are - you - talking - to - me?"

"Well, partly because I am still waiting for an apology."

"Draco," Ginny threatened, raising her hand again.

"All right, all right!" Draco scuttled backwards. "Because - because I like you. No, not like that," he added, exasperated, seeing the look on Ginny's face. "Nothing I'm saying is sounding right today."

Ginny was having a rather odd day. This was Draco Malfoy? she kept asking herself. Malfoy, having a civilized conversation with her? Malfoy, calling her by her first name? Malfoy, NOT sniping at her when he had the chance and the breath?

Draco was trying to find the words to break the now uncomfortable silence. He felt the twinge in his stomach again. What now? he growled inwardly, but he was fighting an answer that rose through his subconscious to plague him.

You do like her. Yes, like that.

Draco clenched his jaw and turned away from Ginny. Stop that, he told his subconscious, stop that right this minute.

"Draco?" The Gryffindor girl came up behind him. He felt a small hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he heard himself say. "I'm fine."

He turned around slowly. "Look, Ginny, you have - how many brothers? Five?"

"Six," she replied. "Malfoy, what-"

"I never had any siblings," Draco interrupted. "It was always Malfoy's Heir this, Malfoy's Heir that. But I didn't want it."He looked down at his feet. "I didn't want any of it."

"Draco, I'm not-"

"Listen to me," he said firmly. "Even though I was an only child, I was still overshadowed. I was overshadowed by this huge responsibility and all my family's expectations. You-" he took Ginny's hand, "you don't have any of that, and yet you're still crouching in your brothers' shadows."

Ginny felt her eyes stinging. Why must he be so right all the time? She started to speak, but he interrupted her once more. "Nobody else I know feels the same as I do. You're the only one I know who's not afraid to do something wild or different just to get somebody - anybody's - attention. You hate it, don't you?" he demanded. "You hate it when one of your brothers flashes his Prefect badge, or gets a laugh out of a crowd. You think you're the only one who goes unnoticed."

Ginny swallowed past the lump in her throat. No more. She took a deep breath. "I don't need a spotlight on me, Draco. I don't want one." As she said it, she realized she was lying. She wanted to be noticed, to be admired, to be surrounded by friends as Harry could be whenever he felt so inclined. She wanted to measure up to her brothers. And, she realized, not just for herself. She wanted one certain person to notice her.

Draco still had Ginny's hand. "You might not have wanted a spotlight, Weasley," he said softly, tilting her chin up to look her in the eye. "But it suits you."

Then Draco's mouth was on hers, warm lips sliding over her own, sparks flying. Ginny closed her eyes and kissed him back, sliding her hands up his chest to lock behind his neck and pull him closer against her. Despite the February air, it seemed that they were standing in the middle of a raging bonfire, an explosion of color and lights and sound. Ginny pulled her hands up to trail through Draco's silvery hair, but he pulled away. "Mmph," he grunted, before losing contact with Ginny's mouth. Ginny was taken aback at the speed of the retreat. "Draco..." she started to murmur, before realizing Draco had his hands shoved in his pockets and was staring at something.

"Hello, Granger," he said carefully.

"Oh, my god - uh - Ginny?" Hermione stammered. "You're - that's - Ginny, are you all right?"

Ginny glanced guiltily at Draco. "Um... fine," she replied, attempting a casual tone. "Why... do you ask?"

Hermione's astonished stare switched from Ginny to Draco, then back to Ginny, then Draco again. "Malfoy, did you curse her?" she asked, tone melting from shocked to suspicious.

Draco looked defiant. "You honestly think I'm that desperate?"

"No," Hermione said. However, she considered the question, and opened her mouth as if to comment further. "He didn't," Ginny said hastily. "I'm - I'm fine." Hermione approached the pair cautiously, as if one of them were a bomb about to go off. When no fireworks ensued, she pressed something into Ginny's palm. "Harry wanted you to have this." She promptly backed off. "You watch yourself, Malfoy," she warned, before turning back to the Entrance Hall.

Draco groaned. "Great. Now with the rumours." He sat down on a nearby bench and glanced sideways at Ginny. "So what did your own personal Valentine-delivering gnome send you?"

Ginny sat down beside him, holding a piece of paper. Her eyes flickered over it. "Um... it's from Harry."

"Yes, I gathered that when she said 'Harry wanted you to have this'."

"I mean, this is actually from Harry."

"What's it say?" Draco slid closer to her. He took the paper, filled with Harry Potter's wandering scrawl, and read.

Ginny,

I hope you're OK... Malfoy's little joke didn't seem to go over so well and I was worried about you. I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry about what happened. You'd think the teachers would have learned their lesson in second year, you really would!

I hope we can be friends. I appreciated your Valentine, you know! (I get a lot less fan mail than you might think I would.) Hermione was asking about you too - we all love you. Talk to me sometime.

Love,

Harry

"Well, if this isn't the biggest 'I-told-you-so' I ever had the opportunity to use," Draco grinned broadly. "See? Come on outof that shell of yours and you'll get it."

"Draco?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

"Oh, fine, squash my moment."

LATER...

"Oh."

"Yes."

"That was very nice."

"Draco?"

"Shutting up."