Now That I Know

Now That I Know

By AmberNixie

Chapter Two -- I Could Not Hate You More

The door of the fitting room opened, and Jade stepped out. Ginny whirled around, relief flooding over her. Draco's presence had shaken her slightly--her heart was racing, and her temperature was rising. She couldn't deny the fact he was very handsome, but the way he had spoken to her was too much for her to take. She hated him now. More than ever. Even more than how she had at Hogwarts.

"Hi, Draco," Jade said. "Good to see you again."

"Hey, Jade," he replied.

Jade glanced at the sullen Ginny and smirking Draco. "I see you've met," she remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Ginny truly is a sweet girl," Draco gushed, with so much sarcasm Ginny wanted to slap him.

"Shut it, Malfoy!" she growled.

"Take it easy, Weasley," he sneered. "No need to blow your top."

"OK, OK, that's enough," Jade said mildly. "Draco, where's Blaise? Shouldn't he be here?"

"Blaise sent me to pick you two up," Draco explained in that cool tone of voice he had, the one which infuriated Ginny so. She swallowed hard, rage building up inside her. She had never been so angry in her life. Damn Draco Malfoy. Too bad he had to look so good. She couldn't wait to punch the hell out of him. Hopefully even disfigure him for life.

"I'm supposed to take you to the Starbucks down the road, where Blaise will join us," Draco continued. "He's supposedly preparing a surprise for you, Jade." His smile made Ginny feel like throwing up.

"Oooh!" Jade squealed, obviously thrilled. "In that case, I'll have a surprise for him too--this dress." She smoothed a wrinkle on the skirt of the dress. "I'll change out. Gin, you just wait here with Draco for awhile, OK?"

And she swept into the fitting room before Ginny could protest.

"So, what's been happening since Hogwarts?" Draco asked, leaning against the wall of the corridor.

Ginny forced herself to answer. "Nothing much. I'm just...working for Jade. In her boutique."

"Ah. I see," Draco said, smirking, and her blood boiled to think of what was going on in that irritatingly handsome head of his...that she had gotten so poor she was forced to work for her best friend. Stupid ass. It wasn't even true. She clenched her fists. Not now...not yet...

She could hardly believe the next words that came out of her mouth. "And you?" Her tone was hardly scathing. In fact, it was almost as if she were talking to a friend. Like Jade, for instance. She wanted to kick herself.

"Same. Nothing much," Draco replied. "Doing stuff here and there, basically."

"Oh." Well, an 'oh' was at least better than talking civilly to him.

"You seeing anyone?" Draco asked casually, as if he had just asked her how the weather had been the past few days. Why should he care? she shouted at herself. She narrowed her eyes. "No," she said. "But if you even think about it--"

"I never said I wanted to go out with you, Weasley," Draco said, mirth in his eyes.

Instantly Ginny felt her cheeks grow warm. Oh, God. She had totally humiliated herself in front of Draco Malfoy. This was getting worse and worse.

Draco smiled lazily, watching the young woman's reaction. She looked mortified, shocked, furious and embarrassed, all at the same time. Draco Malfoy strikes again, he thought, satisfied.

"Sorry, I--" Ginny stopped and rephrased her sentence. "I mean, whatever," she snapped, biting her lip and avoiding his eyes. Oh, bloody hell.Where was Jade when she needed her?

The door of the fitting room burst open and Jade stepped out, the dress hanging over one arm. She beamed at Draco and Ginny. "Shall we?"

* * * * *

"My dress is sooo gorgeous, honey, you must see it later," Jade gushed to Blaise after she, Draco and Ginny had met up with him at Starbucks as planned. Ginny's heart had done a little jig when she saw Blaise, who was now kissing Jade, despite the fact that her insides were boiling up (caused by Draco, no doubt. Just thinking about that...that thing made her feel like punching his brains out, or slapping him till his cheeks bled...)

"So, Ginny, you've met Draco?" Blaise asked, interrupting her violent thoughts.

Uh-oh. Ginny gulped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco smirking away. Now what was she going to say? That he was a prat? What would Blaise think?

"Oh, he's...he's, er..." she stammered, thinking quickly. Jade elbowed her with a mischievous grin on her face. "He's every bit the person I expected him to be." Was that good? She didn't know--her heart was hammering so hard, she was surprised it didn't pop out of her chest. Not only was Blaise talking to her, making eye contact, Draco was watching her, too, and with obvious interest. She shuddered, but realised it was not exactly one of disgust.

Blaise grinned, glancing at Draco. "What, is that negative or positive?"

"Um...I..."

"To tell you the truth, Blaise," Draco cut in, "We aren't getting on very well."

There was a silence.

"Oh," was all Blaise managed.

"But that's impossible," Jade said hurriedly. "You two are co-wedding planners here. For your best friends' wedding! Isn't that great? I mean, you're from the same school, now you're working together...surely you can't be having problems getting along?"

"Actually, Jade, it's never been smooth sailing or anything for us," Ginny said, feeling uncomfortable. "We've...er...kind of hated each other since Hogwarts." Simply thinking about the insults Draco had flung at her and her family in school made her grit her teeth as she stared at her coffee and wished it was Draco's blood.

"Really?" Blaise asked, lurching forward in his seat suddenly. "Draco, you never said anything when I told you Ginny was co-planner!" There was a touch of mirth in his surprised tone, and Ginny felt terribly ashamed.

Draco shrugged, probably meaning he didn't want to answer that.

"OK," Jade said slowly. "You two don't want to work together to handle this wedding--"

"No, Jade!" Ginny interrupted. The last thing she wanted was for Jade to think she was a useless friend. "It's not like that. I'd rather not, but if you want me to, I...I'll do it." She swallowed hard. Was she making a big mistake?

Jade looked relieved. "Thanks, Gin. But if Draco doesn't want to...?"

"If Ginny doesn't mind, then I suppose I don't either, especially if it's for you and Blaise," Draco said nonchalantly. "But this doesn't make Ginny and I friends or anything, right?"

"No, it doesn't, and it had better not," Ginny said, rather savagely. She would rather die than befriend Draco . "I'm sure neither of us would want that."

"Exactly," Draco agreed.

"Partners, then?" Blaise asked.

Reluctantly, Ginny nodded, before glancing at Draco, who was sneering in a somewhat mocking way at her. She looked away immediately. Partners. The word itself sent chills down her spine. What had she done to deserve such torture?