Nothing I Have Ever Seen

Chapter 12

When Draco awoke the next morning, he felt rather disorientated. For a moment he didn't know where he was, but then he remembered. He was still wearing the clothes he was in yesterday, and Ginny lay curled up and asleep in his arms. He dropped his head back onto the cushions and couldn't help grinning with happiness as he thought about the night before. After they'd exchanged presents, they'd sat up talking the night away until they'd finally dropped off to sleep. It had been perfect.

Now, as the pale wintry sunlight struggled through the gaps in the long curtains, he saw the fairies he'd released giving off but a tiny glow, looking rather exhausted. The candles had burnt down to the bottom and extinguished. The snow he'd conjured was nowhere to be seen; it had stopped falling the moment they'd fallen asleep, and disappeared. Carefully, so as not to wake Ginny, he aimed his wand at the remnants of the previous night and they vanished, leaving just the two of them, lying comfortably and connectedly on the cushions.

Glancing at the grandfather clock however, he realised that they couldn't remain here for much longer. It was seven thirty and although there were no classes today, the teachers and Filch would surely be prowling the corridors as usual, and would not look lightly on two who had blatantly not been in their own dormitories that night.

He looked down at the girl asleep by his side, and incredibly unwillingly, shook her gently awake.

Still almost taken by sleep, they didn't say much as they parted. Just a promise of meeting later that night at the Ball.

As Draco got back to his room, he collapsed onto his bed and stared around at the others. They were all still asleep, and he felt a twitch of annoyance that they obviously hadn't worried about him enough to come looking for him when he hadn't come up to bed last night. But still, he was rather glad they hadn't. He raised his hand to his throat and ran his fingers over the silver fang that hung there, thinking of Ginny. Her eyes, her long hair... her kiss. He smiled, then suddenly realised that he hadn't even remembered that it was Christmas today. Looking to the end of his bed, he saw a considerable heap of presents waiting for him. He couldn't remember ever forgetting presents before. He waited, however, for the others to wake up before opening them, as what was the point in receiving presents if not to boast about them to other people?

As he tore away the wrapping on several items from his parents and various other relatives, he revealed all that had been on his Christmas list, and more. Once the others had expressed their jealousy enough to please him, he showered and changed for the day.

He knew that he couldn't see Ginny again before the Ball, and as always when one is waiting for something, the day dragged by at an annoyingly slow rate.

That evening he changed into his dress robes, made sure he looked as sleek and suave as usual and headed down towards the Great Hall. He lingered in the entrance hall looking around, casually. Had Ginny arrived yet?

Looking around, he noticed that other boys he knew were meeting their dates here, as several nervous-looking males from each of the houses stood here alone, waiting rather uncomfortably. Draco flicked his gaze towards the sweeping staircase ahead of him, and a group of girls appeared, looking gorgeous. Their long dress robes flowed to the floor. Draco suddenly realised that Ginny was among them. He couldn't help but stare at her as she approached.

She was wearing a fitted deep green robe, that looked as if it had been tailored to suit her. Her hair was swept up into a messy bun, with a few loose tendrils framing her face. Her eyelashes were spiky and dark, and rimmed with something sparkly. Her ring was glinting in the light. She caught his eye and smiled that smile that made his knees go weak, then swept past him and into the Great Hall. He followed, at a respectable distance behind her, then their paths parted as they went to sit at their separate tables.

Ginny, he noticed, joined a table where her brother was sitting with Granger, and where Potter was deep in conversation with a stunning looking dark haired girl he knew as the Ravenclaw seeker. He was pleased to see that Potter's attentions wouldn't be on Ginny tonight. Also sitting there were a couple of single boys from Gryffindor, who Draco saw chat to Ginny casually.

He himself sat down at a table where Crabbe and Goyle had saved him a chair. Draco was surprised to see Goyle accompanied by Millicent Bulstrode, and wondered fleetingly how that could have come about, then decided he'd rather not know. He had not been sitting for longer than a minute before they were joined by a couple of unwanted guests.

"Pansy, there are hundreds of tables in this hall. Why don't you go and find one where you'll be welcome?"

"Now Draco, is that any way to speak to a friend? Besides, all the other tables are full... or full of riffraff," she added in an undertone, indicating to a partially full table of Hufflepuffs next to them.

Before Draco could protest further, Dumbledore raised his hand for silence. Draco glared at Pansy as Dumbledore made a short speech, then the feast began.

"So Draco. How's life?" Pansy asked, nonchalantly.

"Life's good, thanks. Of course, it would be better if you weren't close enough to be in firing line of my wand, but that's your lookout isn't it," Draco replied.

"Come on Malfoy, she was only being friendly. Give her a break," Flint said.

Draco raised an eyebrow at him and sighed defeatedly. There was no getting rid of them now, so he might as well make the most of it. Pansy began her ceaseless chatter. She really could hold an audience, Draco realised, when she wasn't acting like a love-sick puppy. She was actually tolerable when she wasn't making suggestive eyes at him and punctuating every sentence with, 'so what do you think, Draco?' It was like nothing had happened, she was acting as she would have done before her manic outburst at Ginny. Maybe she'd really decided to give it a rest and grow up. Draco found himself becoming more and more a part of the conversation, and by the end of the meal, Draco began to feel as though she perhaps wasn't the person he'd always taken her for, despite the nagging urge to curse her to the ground still lingering benignly in the back of his mind.

As they waited for the musicians to arrive and begin the dance, Pansy asked in a low voice, "How are things going with Ginny?"

Draco looked at her, and decided to tell the truth. "Things are good. Going really well, actually. Of course, no one knows about us yet."

"Ahhh, I get you. You're meeting up secretly tonight, eh?" she grinned suggestively at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Er, yes actually."

"I know the perfect place for you to go. No one'll ever see you there. It's out on the grounds, in the rose garden. There's a concealed bit near the fountain, near the statue of Aphrodite. You'll find it ok," she smiled at him.

"Thanks Pansy, I'll keep that in mind," Draco replied.

"No problem. Not a problem at all..." she tailed off as he rose to his feet and stalked across the dance floor towards the exit onto the grounds. Across the hall, Pansy saw Ginny watching him, and casually follow him out. Pansy smiled to herself, took Flint's hand and stepped onto the dance floor.

*

The rose garden was lit with fairy lights and it sparkled in the dusky blue haze of the evening. Draco wandered lazily around the winding paths, aware that Ginny was somewhere behind him. He walked for a while towards the centre, where the fountain stood, splashing gently on the stone. There was no one around now, and it was very quiet. From here he could just make out a secluded section behind some particularly tall bushes behind the fountain guarded by a tall statue of the Greek goddess, and he smiled to himself. He disappeared behind the bushes, and a second later Ginny was there with him. The urge to grab her and kiss her was just too strong, so he did, passionately and desperately. She responded with all the sweetness he knew her for, and more.

"I missed you today," she whispered, through light butterfly kisses.

"Of course you did, why wouldn't you," he murmured back, smirking slightly at her less-than-amused expression as she whacked him playfully.

"Didn't you miss me?" she asked.

"Well, y'know, I had Christmas presents to open and all... I was pretty busy today," he lied, then more softly, "Ginny you look gorgeous tonight. The other girls in there, they don't even compare. How could I not have missed you?" He kissed her gently on the nose.

They were surrounded, apart from the small gap they'd squeezed in through, by a square of tall hedges, covered with roses and speckled with fairy lights. A stone bench sat along one edge, and Draco took Ginny's hand and they settled onto the bench.

"Draco- I just want to know, are you ever planning on telling anyone about us? Are you afraid what they'll say? Or is 'this' not serious enough to tell anyone about? Or-"

He squeezed her hand, and stopped her. He knew what she meant, but it would take more explaining than he wanted to give now. Truthfully, he couldn't care less about what anyone would think. What could they do to him, anyway? He could intimidate the lot of them. Perhaps the main reason, which he hadn't even consciously thought of before, was that admitting and publicising his relationship would be the final and most direct rejection of his father's rule over him. But now he thought about it, he realised he didn't care. When it came down to it, he cared more about pleasing Ginny rather than his father.

"Shh. Look, I'm sorry I've put off telling people about us, I hope you haven't taken that as an insult or anything. I was thinking about myself, instead of you," he said.

"Makes a change," Ginny replied smoothly. Draco glared at her for interrupting his speech; she still had a lot to learn about Malfoys.

"Anyway, what I was going to say was, I think we should stop hiding from everyone. It's not the Malfoy way," he added, rather impressively, he thought. "So when we go back up to the Great Hall, we'll go together, ok?"

"You most certainly will not," a deep voice, dripping with venom rang out clearly.

Draco and Ginny jumped. Someone was standing behind the hedges that surrounded them. A dark cloaked figure appeared before them, silver-white hair protruding from the hood that concealed his face.

"Father..."