Walking On Broken Glass

"When your secret heart cannot speak so easily,

Come here darlin' and from a whisper start

To have a little faith in me.

Have a little faith in me, have a little faith in me..."

-- John Hiatt; "Have A Little Faith In Me"

~~~

Chapter Four

~~~

Ginny entered the library with her head down, a curtain of ruby curls hiding her tear stained face. She reached an arm out to grab the nearest book off the shelf and stumbled toward a chair in the corner.

Once she'd sunk into the cushions she lifted her head, throwing her hair behind her, and rubbed her eyes vigorously. The flow of water stopped but she knew her face was red. Hopefully, with the time until lunch, the color would fade.

She hated herself for crying. There wasn't any real need for it. Everything was fine. Harry wasn't upset so why should she be? Because I'm a horrible girlfriend that's why.

She pinched the bridge of her nose to keep herself together. "It'll all be okay," she told herself soothingly. "Everything's fine. Just breathe."

"That would be a good idea."

Ginny lifted her head so quickly she had to rub her neck. Emerging from the shadow of the chair next to her were a horribly familiar pair of stormy gray eyes.

Oh this is just fabulous. Running a hand through her hair, she expelled a long breath. "Snape just gave me detention," Ginny lied, shaking her head. "That bastard."

The words were false even to her own ears and she wasn't all that surprised when Draco gave her a disbelieving look. He pulled his chair closer to hers, letting the candlelight spill over his features. His ever present smirk slowly faded as he studied her face. He could see the stains where her tears had fallen and all he had to do was look at her to see that she was hurt.

"What's wrong?" His tone was so gentle Ginny could hardly remember who she was talking to.

"It's nothing--"

"Weasley." He looked into her eyes and said again, firmly. "What's wrong?"

Something about the look in his eyes touched her. It wasn't just that he was concerned for her, which he so obviously was. But something in those soft gray depths made her feel safe. And it had been such a long time since anyone had made her feel safe.

All questions as to his cruel motives or evil intentions fled her mind, as she felt her shoulders collapse.

After months of no one to talk to, and after so many half started conversations about 'how things were going', she finally broke down and let it all out.

It did occur to her a few times how odd it was that Malfoy would be the one to hear her troubles. But after every loved one she knew had ignored her problems opting for issues of their own, she also found it slightly fitting.

Incident after incident came pouring out. And by the end of her speech (through which Draco had said nothing) she felt a quiet release, glad to be rid of her demons if only to share them with someone else.

Looking down at her hands, Ginny sighed softly. "And then I came in here and found you, hiding in the shadows."

For a few painful minutes Draco was silent. The only sounds being the quick paced drumming of her heart in her ears. But then she felt something soft touch her face and lift it upward so she was looking him in the eye.

Draco's hand left her chin as she met his gaze. His expression was blank but when he spoke, anger was clearly etched in every syllable.

"I think someone needs to show him the proper way treat the women in his life," Draco said. "He's got this strange, 'old married couple' complex with Granger, and now this." Draco shook his head angrily. "That kid is more fucked up than I ever really imagined."

Ginny rubbed her forehead hopelessly. How could she not have seen this coming? Of course, Draco wouldn't be able to show compassion and sympathy. He'd always cared more about hating Harry then caring for anyone else. Somehow, though she'd thought that maybe he'd changed.

"But you, Weasley," Draco's voice lowered. "You were always too good for him."

Ginny's eyes widened in obvious shock. "What do you mean? Harry's wonderful."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm sure he is."

"The sarcasm really wasn't necessary," Ginny told him with a stern glare.

"Oh, but it was," Draco insisted. "Harry always ignored little Ginny Weasley, even when she sent him that darling valentine."

Ginny narrowed her eyes and kicked him in the shin. "I'll never forgive you for sending him that, you know."

Draco clutched his knee in mock pain. "I was 12!"

"You were a jerk," Ginny said matter-of-factly.

Draco paused for a moment to consider this. "Alright, I'll give you that. But what I was trying to get at before you decided to resort to physical violence, is that classic aspect of human nature."

"And what is that?"

Draco raised on eyebrow, obviously pleased that he'd caught her attention. "You always want what you can't have. And you, Weasley, were what he couldn't have after fifth year." Ginny looked at him skeptically. "Think about it. At 16 he could've had any girl in the entire school. Even the Slytherin girls had it out for him. But who did he choose? The one who had moved on."

"Sure, but even if that was why he started dating me, and I'm not saying it was." Ginny looked at him pointedly. "But even if it was, we've still been together for a year. You'd think that after that time he'd realize I wasn't outside of his grasp."

"He's always been a little slow, that one," Draco said thoughtfully.

Ginny kicked him again. "Seriously."

Draco's eyebrows drew together, almost concernedly so. "Well, by then he'd probably grown comfortable with you. And if there's one problem I'll grant Potter, it's a lack of stability. He seems to cling with an iron grip to things that are familiar."

Ginny chewed on her lip. His observations were scary in their accuracy. But did she really want to believe that? No, she assured herself. Malfoy doesn't know me or Harry. Not half as well as I do. He's wrong.

But even as she was telling herself this, Ginny knew that no one had manipulated the inner workings of Harry's emotions more often, and with more precision than Draco Malfoy. He was probably better at hurting Harry than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, himself.

"Don't believe me if you like," Draco continued, as if reading her thoughts. "But whichever way you look at it you need to do something about him. No one deserves to be treated like an afterthought by their boyfriend."

Ginny nodded, but with a look of decided unease on her face. "Why is it that you care?" she asked, suspicious despite herself.

He looked at her, his face solemn. "I may not be as saintly as Potter or as 'every problem is my problem too' as Granger, but I'm not completely without compassion." He saw Ginny blush, ashamed at the way she'd spoken, and smiled wolfishly. "Besides, what am I supposed to do when a cute redhead pours her heart into my lap?"

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "If that red hair had belonged to a Weasley, the Draco I know would've spit on her."

He clenched his jaw to try and contain whatever it was he had wanted to say, opting for something a little less profane. "What is it with you, exactly? Is it now a rule of thumb that I'm not allowed to give a good God damn about anything but house points?" Ginny's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak before he cut her off. "Because if you want to believe that no one's changed in the last five years then maybe you should take a good look at yourself."

Ginny's mouth formed a perfect "o" as Draco rose and began slinking through the shadowed aisles toward the exit. It took her a few moments before she realized that he actually intended to leave.

Shooting up from her chair, Ginny had to sprint in order to catch him in the hallway right outside of the library. And without a thought to who this was, or where she was standing, or who was near, she reached out and grabbed Draco's arm.

He spun around sharply, as soon as her hand made contact, glaring fiercely down at what he had expected to be a first year. But when he looked at who it was attached to his sleeve, and noticed the mass of red curls about a foot below him, he was surprised to see Ginny flinch.

Guilt crept into the pit of his stomach, irritating him even more, as he saw her reaction. How could she be frightened of him? It gave him a distinctly bad taste in his mouth.

Draco smiled as gently as he could, and she seemed to relax a little.

"Yes, Weasley?" he asked, trying his best not to sound impatient for fear of her recoiling again. "Come to insult me again, have you?" Okay, so that one was on purpose. But she deserved it.

Ginny looked reasonably ashamed and began to pick at her fingernails. "I just really wanted to apologize," she mumbled.

A smirk made it's way onto his face, as hard as he tried not to let it. "What was that?"

She sighed, in obvious frustration. "I'm sorry, you enormous git!" Ginny had a hand on either hip and looked, for lack of another word, adorable.

Adorable? Draco asked himself. We're associating Weasley's with the word 'adorable' now?

But it seemed that this particular Weasley, while missing out on the family height, had managed to acquire a quirky little smile and big brown eyes that kind of saw right through you if you weren't careful, not to mention that backside--

Draco cleared his throat before smirking once more. "Let me make sure I'm perfectly clear on this. Not only am I incapable of basic human emotions but now I'm an enormous git as well?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. "The enormous git part isn't anything new." Draco couldn't help but laugh, and somehow Ginny couldn't help but feel her agitation ebb away. "But really, I want to apologize for the things that I said. It wasn't fair of me."

She was already so disappointed in herself she hoped he wouldn't rub it in too badly. Ginny had despised him for the way he had behaved and then when he tried to change she wouldn't let him.

If anything she felt guilty for how long he'd been hated. Hadn't it, at least in part, been their faults? After all, why bother trying to mend your ways when no one will ever forgive you?

Blinking, she focused on the situation at hand. Which happened to be a pair of cool gray eyes staring at her. Draco's face was blank as he studied her, but she didn't feel the need to squirm, or to blush. She felt strangely comfortable as his gaze roamed the planes of her face.

"Alright."

Ginny's eyebrows knit in confusion. "Alright?" she repeated. "You're not horribly upset with me?"

Draco grinned, which only served to irritate her further. "It's not as if I haven't given you reason not to trust me."

She was surprised at how understanding he was being. And then chastised herself for those thoughts.

It would certainly be a change, this friendship with a Malfoy. But Ginny had always been willing to try anything once.

"So are you ready to lose on the pitch tomorrow?" Ginny remarked as she strolled past him, toward the library door.

"Lose?" Draco shouted, hurrying to keep pace. "Obviously you have yet to take an objective look at your team. First off you have those hopeless beaters, Creevin something or other."

"Creevey," she remarked, offhand as he continued with his speech.

Ginny listened in amused silence, wondering at the truth and accuracy of the world he painted. The world where Gryffindors were inadequate, The Boy Who Lived was no more than a sullen teenager, and where Malfoy's could change.

And she was slow to admit, even to herself, how very much she liked it there.