My Angel

Eventually, the battle ended, the Death Eaters all Apparating away. Three people had died, two of which were Death Eaters and the other was John Delaney, whom Harry hadn't gotten to in time to save. Nearly everyone was somehow injured. Harry seemed to be much worse for the wear. The next day he had massive bags under his eyes, and he was rather hoarse. He came down briefly to get some tea, then returned to his room, saying only that Voldemort was weaker, but not weak enough that he was easy to take on, and that at this point they probably had him on steroids or something (Ginny refrained from asking what steroids were). Everyone figured that he blamed himself for John Delaney's death, because he usually shut himself in his room when in this state of post-death depression and exhaustion.

Ginny, on the other hand, was locked in her room not because of fatigue, but because of her anger...and confusion. She was mostly furious with Draco, but also with herself. She couldn't believe that she had let herself get seduced by that...that...greasy little ferret! He had obviously taken advantage of her, viewed her as a one-night stand. Ha! She hadn't given him the satisfaction of going that far. He hadn't even looked at her afterwards, much less spoken to her, or even acknowledged the fact that he had very recently been snogging her in a garden shed. It made her so mad to think about it, and yet it was the only thing going through her mind.

Suddenly, there was a knocking at her door that made her jump slightly.

"Ginny, dear, you haven't eaten anything." It was her mother. Ginny put her pillow over her head and rolled over onto her stomach. The knocking persisted.

"Ginny, you should really come out and eat something."

Now Ginny pulled the covers up over her head, trying to remember the spell to soundproof her room. She really wanted to be left alone, even though that meant replaying yesterday's events constantly in her mind.

"Ginny?"

Her mother tried entering, but Ginny had her door locked. Then, she heard a whispered "Alohomora!" and the door opened. Ginny feigned sleep, controlling her breathing so that it was slow and even. She sensed her mother coming to stand beside her bed. Ginny then heard the sound of a tray being put down on her bedside table, then her mother's footsteps as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

Ginny sat up and re-locked her door with a wave of her wand. Then she glanced over at the tray on her bedside table. It held two sandwiches, some potato crisps, and a glass of pumpkin juice. She pulled the tray onto her lap, figuring that she could be out of her mind without starving.

When she finished eating, Ginny pulled her stack of papers onto her lap, deciding that she needed to distract herself and that she may as well get some work done. Lo and behold, the letter that she couldn't answer was right on top. She reread it a couple of times, then pulled out a parchment to try to formulate an answer.

Dear Attracted to Opposites,

You're not really in love with him! He's probably

a lying, cheating bastard who

Dear Attracted to Opposites,

It's just crazy lust, not real love. He'll take

advantage of you and he'll

Dear Attracted to Opposites,

DON'T FALL FOR THE CHEAP ALLURE

OF LUST!!!!

Somehow, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't come up with anything that would even be remotely helpful. In fact, everything that she wrote ended up somehow relating to yesterday's events. Somehow, all her answers ended up going back to Draco and all the madness that ensued his arrival at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

Eventually, she gave up on that letter and set it aside, telling herself that she could always go back to it when she cleared her mind. She systematically worked through the rest of her letters. At around 6 PM, she put down her final letter, gathered all her answers, and prepared them to be sent in to her boss. As she rubbed her tired eyes and realized that she had been holed up in her room all day, her thoughts led her back to snogging Draco in a garden shed. She nearly screeched as the memories flooded her again, held back all this time as she had focused on her work. Her mind was assaulting her with images, from yesterday and from her dreams, and worse, feelings. It was almost as if she were reliving parts of yesterday.

Ginny jumped onto her bed and started abusing her pillow, tears welling up in her eyes. Before she knew it, she was full out bawling. Maybe it was the seven cups of coffee she had consumed that were messing with her, or maybe she was out of her mind, or maybe she was simply too confused for words. She had thought there had been chemistry between them. She'd felt the chemistry, or so she'd thought. But he treated it as if it was no big deal, snogging her then completely ignoring her. She had no clue what to do. She couldn't face him, because she was afraid she'd remember him half-naked unhooking her bra. She couldn't sit here and stew in her own feelings, because quite frankly that might drive her insane. Tears clouding her vision, she did the only thing she could think of: she pressed her pillow against her mouth and screamed.

~~~~~

Eventually, Ginny managed to fall asleep, skipping dinner altogether. She woke up around midnight with her stomach rumbling. Groping around in the dark until she found her wand, she got out of bed and crept along the silent corridors to the kitchen. Lighting her wand, she rummaged quietly around in the pantry until she found a box of crackers. While sneaking back up to her room, smuggled food in hand, she passed by Draco's room and heard mumbling coming from within. Ginny held her breath as she leaned against the door, really wishing she still had those Extendable Ears that Fred and George had given her as a teenager.

Ginny heard the sound of her name and instantly, she became more attentive, listening with all her might to catch the context in which she was being mentioned.

"Ginny...don't leave...so cold...Ginny..."

Thoroughly confused, she cracked open the door slightly, whispering, "Knox!" so as not to shine any light into the room and risk waking up Draco. Peering in, Ginny noticed that his sheets were tangled around his feet, he was hugging one of his pillows, and his face wasn't relaxed as one's face normally is when asleep, but rather he had an expression of worry and perhaps vexation. His pale skin was shining with sweat, his room illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through a gap in the curtains.

"Ginny...please...I...I...I didn't mean to, really...don't leave me...dying...Ginny..."

His sleep talking was starting to get intriguing. Ginny chanced opening the door a little bit more and leaned in so she could hear better.

"Ginny...he's coming...get me...kill me...too powerful...no chance...I l--"

"Ginny?"

Ginny whipped around. Standing behind her was a very perplexed Harry, who had apparently been on his way to the bathroom. She had been so caught up in what Draco was saying that she hadn't heard Harry's footsteps.

"Ginny, what are you doing?" he asked, his brow furrowed in utter confusion. He seemed to still be half-asleep. "Isn't that Draco's room?"

"Em...no, of course not," Ginny said, hoping that he was still asleep enough to be tricked. "I was just, erm...coming back from the bathroom."

"Oh...okay then. Don't let the bed bugs bite," he said dazedly, yawning as he staggered on towards the bathroom. Ginny noticed that he was only wearing one slipper. She scampered back to her room and shut the door quietly, making sure it didn't slam and wake up the whole house. For half and hour, she sat in bed munching her smuggled crackers and pondering what she had just heard. She fell asleep with a full belly, hoping that Harry would think he had dreamed up their little encounter outside of Draco's room.