Now That I Know

Now That I Know

By AmberNixie

Chapter Four -- Whirlwind

Ginny always dreaded saying goodbye to people, especially people she was having a good time with.

But in this case, she was dreading the time when she would have to say goodbye to Draco--not because she would miss him, no, not at all--but because she had no idea whatsoever what to say to him. And unfortunately for her, time flew by. Soon enough it was past midnight and Jade was actually beginning to yawn, which, honestly, Ginny hardly ever saw her do.

"Thanks for dinner, Blaise," Draco said, turning to leave. "I'll see you next week?"

"Yeah," Blaise replied. "See you."

"Bye, Draco," Jade said, giving Draco a brief smile.

All eyes turned to Ginny.

If a lightning bolt could just hit me now, I will thank God a million times if I do go to heaven, Ginny thought, praying hard for her wish to come true.

As expected, it didn't.

"Uh, um..." she stuttered stupidly, "Er, bye." She forced herself to look at him, realising that it wasn't hard to do so at all. Hmm. Maybe it's a good thing I wasn't struck by lightning, she thought. Now that she had finally managed to say a goodbye deemed acceptable by her friends, she relaxed slightly.

Oh, if only she knew.

Draco nodded at her. "See you," he said, then; "Virginia," he added with a slight grin--enigmatic and knowing...provocative, even, Ginny found herself thinking, and her heartbeat quickened. And then he was gone.

Ginny gulped, feeling her cheeks growing hot. She looked away, knowing Blaise and Jade were grinning and nudging each other...she wished she could disappear into the floor. Oh, that idiot was getting to her.

"Excuse me for a...a moment," Ginny told them before heading outside the house after Draco.

* * * * *

"What was that all about?" Ginny demanded frostily, folding her arms across her chest after having caught Draco outside. "Do you have any idea what our friends are thinking of this very moment as we speak?"

"No, but truthfully, I don't care. And by your coming out here to talk to me, it looks like they'll have many more thoughts about what we are up to. Now if you'll step aside, I need to go home," Draco replied. Ginny ignored him and blocked his way. "Stop. And listen to me." She took a breath. "You shouldn't have called me Virginia."

"It's your name, is it not?" he answered carelessly.

"I know, but...like that?" Ginny cried, infuriated by his nonchalant tone. "There's no need for you to call me by my first name--let alone my complete first name--just to make your best friend and mine happy!"

Draco snorted. "I see no problem in calling you by your complete first name since you call me by mine," he drawled. "And besides, I'm not doing it for Blaise or Jade, Ginny. I'm doing it for you. If you continue yelling at me like you're deranged, it won't be good for you, you know. I, being the smarter of the two of us, ought to settle the 'feud' once and for all, don't you think?" Four statements at the same time from the same horrid person were too much for Ginny, who, frankly, could find nothing to say to that. "Damn it!" she shouted and stormed away.

Draco watched her leave, a lazy smirk on his face. She was so much fun to torment. And of course, there was the fact that she looked incredibly alluring when she was angry. He shrugged to himself and left, wondering why she had been so worked up over something as insignificant as a name.

* * * * *

Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated

I see the way you're

Acting like you're somebody else

Gets me frustrated

--'Complicated', Avril Lavigne--

It was yet another brilliant day when Jade and Ginny stepped out of the apartment the next week for another day out with Blaise and Draco. Today, they would be "Searching for a caterer, rings and inexpensive door gifts for guests," as Jade put it. Ginny had been in two minds about the day's excursion--seeing Blaise and Draco was a plus point (well, seeing Blaise was; she wasn't too sure about Draco), but she was confused, very confused indeed, about wanting to co-operate with Draco but not wanting to at the same time.

It was all enough to give her a headache.

"Hi, Blaise! Hi, Draco!" Jade chirruped as she and Ginny headed in the direction of the two. More greetings were exchanged; Ginny doing so happily with Blaise and a little nervously with Draco, who seemed to have forgotten last week's incident (Ginny felt sure she was grateful, but there was a niggling feeling inside, telling her that his lack of concern for her was disappointing indeed).

"Right, here's the plan," Jade said. "Blaise and I are going to look at rings..."

Oh, no.

"Draco and Ginny, you two take care of the door gifts. Remember--they have to be--"

"Cheap but attractive," Draco and Ginny chorused in a monotone. Surprised, they glanced at each other, but only for a brief moment; they looked away immediately. Ginny swallowed hard. Why did you have to go and do that? she scolded herself. Just because you say the same thing as he does it doesn't mean you have to look at him.

"Right!" Jade said brightly. "We'll meet back here at..." She glanced at her watch. "Noon. That's OK, isn't it, Blaise?"

Blaise nodded.

"Right," Ginny said. "We'll just...go, then." She cast a brief glance at Draco, who nodded. They began to walk away, both stealing glances at the couple walking hand in hand in the opposite direction behind them.

"So in love, those two, eh?" Draco commented suddenly.

"Oh. Yeah," Ginny said, wishing she could have said something more friendly. She racked her brain for something, anything to say. "Lucky them."

Draco was smirking again.

"What?" she said indignantly. "Can I help it if I'm jealous?"

"Why aren't you seeing anyone anyway?" Draco asked. Ginny gaped. What was she supposed to say? Because I'm kind of crushing on Blaise? And I just saw the boy I used to go all gaga over whom you used to laugh at me about? And now my mind won't let me stop thinking of you?

"I...I don't think I can...find anyone right now," she said hurriedly. "I mean, being attached would be very nice, but..." She shook her head. "I'm busy with the wedding and all, so..."

She realised that she still did not know if he was seeing anyone--but she decided not to ask. I don't care whether he's seeing anybody or not, she told herself firmly. I don't need to know about his goddamn love life. If he even has one.

It took her a moment to realise she did care. Very much indeed.

"You still into Potter?"

Now that was unexpected.

"No," Ginny said coldly, remembering how Draco's mocking words had rung in her ears as she ran from Harry after he'd received her card; back in his second year. "Last I heard, he was with, um, Luna Lovegood," she lied, saying the first name coming to her head. She wondered why she had done so.

"Oh."

From then on, neither spoke.

The shop Jade had designated to Ginny a few days before was huge--full to bursting with beautiful trinkets. "How are Blaise and Jade expecting us to choose things from here?" Ginny asked, breathlessly. Everything was so intricately crafted, and she took a look at the price tag on a beautiful snowglobe before gasping and turning away from it. "God," she whispered. "Thirty pounds for that..." She shook her head, sighed and walked away.

When she had wandered off, Draco picked the snowglobe up. It really was beautiful--a heart that had the words I Love You printed on it, surrounded by perfect flakes of snow. A sudden urge to make her happy came over him when he remembered their conversation the week before. And though his mind was yelling at him, Damn it, Draco, you don't do this kind of thing, he ignored it.

At first he wondered what she would say when he handed it to her. He didn't even know what he was doing; he checked his wallet, took out the exact amount of money and paid for the snowglobe in a daze. When Ginny decided there was nothing they could possibly find, she called to Draco, and they left the shop.

I can't do it, Draco thought. He knew her; there was no doubt she would misinterpret his actions. But he had to. Besides, he couldn't keep the vile thing. It was far too sappy to fit into his life.

"Hey, Ginny," he called--she was walking away rather quickly, he noted.

"Yeah?" She turned around; he could tell she was making an attempt to show indifference. She's not succeeding, he realised, almost starting to smirk. She can't do it.

He handed her a plastic bag. Baffled and dumbstruck, Ginny stared at it. Then she looked up at him. "Wha--"

"Open it," he interrupted her.

She obeyed him, unsure of what she would find. Was this all a joke? She inhaled sharply when her fingers brushed the hard glass. Drawing the snowglobe out, she was struck dumb once more. She was so confused...he had bought the snowglobe for her. The snowglobe that cost thirty pounds. And the snowglobe said I Love You too. How interesting.

"Why did you buy this for me?" Ginny asked hotly, realising she was being horrifyingly rude. Draco shrugged. "You were looking at it. You seemed interested. You couldn't afford it. I bought it for you."

"I...Draco, I can pay for my own things, thank you very much," Ginny said, the rudeness planted in her not leaving.

He didn't look very hurt.

"I'm a gentleman--what can I say?" He smirked; she got angry again, which, he had to admit, he was getting used to.

"Oh, yeah? I don't remember you being a gentleman when we met in the bridal gown shop!" she snapped.

"I was!" he protested.

"Were not!" she yelled.

"Was too!" he argued.

"Were not!" she bellowed.

"I praised you!" Draco reminded her.

"That was so bloody sarcastic I wanted to barf, Draco! You know what? I think the only reason you bought it was to show that cute girl behind the counter how 'gentlemanly' you are!" Ginny accused, knowing she was most certainly wrong. But she was now completely over the edge, unable to control her anger. The stupid, childish little quarrel they had ("Were not!" "Was too!") was downright ridiculous. But even though she knew she was being a) rude and b) immature, she simply could not stop herself.

"That wasn't the original plan, but..." Draco glanced back at the shop, checking the girl out; "Now that you've mentioned it, that's a good idea." He raised his eyebrows at Ginny and she narrowed her eyes, jaw dropping as he turned to go. What is he doing? she wondered frantically. "See you," he called over his shoulder.

And he began to walk back to the shop, in his usual, leisurely stride. "Wait...no...I...you...!" Ginny spluttered. She groaned. What was happening here? She had no idea.

"Fine!" she shouted at his back. "Go see her, then, chat her up, fuck her if you like, see if I care!"

He glanced back at her and winked. "Thanks, I will!"

"Oooooh! You pathetic...pathetic...pathetic...!" she screamed, stamping her foot on the ground. She couldn't think of an insult mean enough to throw at him. She stomped away, but stopped in her tracks.

I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Ginny shouted, glad there was nobody around. She took a deep breath and headed to the shop. Indeed, Draco was chatting amicably with the girl behind the counter who was, as Ginny observed, looking very enamoured.

"Darling!" Ginny gushed as soon as she set foot in the shop. "Oh, no, not again!"

"What the--" Draco began, but Ginny cut him off.

"I'm so sorry," Ginny said to the confused looking shopgirl. "My boyfriend is, er, a little...um..." She rolled her eyes at Draco. "Cuckoo." She sighed. "He goes around chatting girls up, then..." She let out a dramatic gasp. "If you even caught sight of their bodies, mangled and strangled--ooh, that rhymes--you'd go insane. I'd know!"

"I'm not your--"

"See how mentally unstable he is?" Ginny said. "He doesn't even recognise his own girlfriend! Come on, honey, let's go..." She grabbed Draco by the arm firmly and began dragging him out of the shop. She paused and turned back to the very shocked-looking shopgirl. "Oh, and find your own boyfriend, dear," she said, pasting a fake, million-megawatt smile on her face. "Tata!" she added, wiggling her fingers at the girl.

And she bundled the still-protesting Draco out of the shop.

"What did you do that for?" Draco yelled, wriggling free of Ginny's grasp.

"What did I do that for? For flirting, you bonehead! In case you haven't noticed, you're here with a girl!" Ginny yelled.

Draco opened his mouth to argue, but stopped. That doesn't make sense. He frowned. "So?"

"So..." Ginny fought hard to find an answer. She had simply blurted out the first thing that had come to her mind without thinking, as always. "So...you..."

Draco's trademark smirk spread across his face. "So...?"

"Forget it!" Ginny screeched. "I'm not going to waste my time yelling my head off at you just because you like to flirt, asshole. You want to flirt so badly, go live in a brothel. You'll get what you want. And more." She stopped, breathing hard from her outburst. "I don't need you, Draco," she snarled, before turning sharply on her heel and storming away, hoping he wouldn't call her back.

She got her wish. He didn't.