You Again

You Again:

Chapter 5: Brothers, Cats and Things Like That

Waking up late Sunday morning, Ginny rolled over in bed to check the time - hoping it wasn't too early, because for some cruel reason, she could never get back to sleep once her eyes opened. Her soft brown eyes met a grey/blue pair staring at her with vague curiosity.

Thoughts rushed through her head in a mad hurry to make sense of the situation: those eyes look suspiciously like Draco's...Why the hell would Draco Malfoy be in my bed...I can think of one good reason - Did I sleep with Draco last night??? Ginny's life flashed before her, as she felt herself fall into a pit of doom... nooooo!

A second later, however, her horrible visions passed and gave way to a new thought as her eyes started to focus: he looks curious. Curious? Why would he be curious? Wait a minute...is that fur? I swear Draco didn't have fur yesterday...Oh. She looked down at the furry creature and realised that this was not Draco Malfoy but, in fact, a cat. Oh. The little ball of fuzz blinked, non-plussed at this show of stupidity, and began purring contentedly into the blankets - thoughts of major importance drifting lazily through its mind. These all-important thoughts consisted of 'when is my next meal?' 'Who is this crazy woman'? And 'this blanket is warm'. Ginny's embarrassment at being such an idiot trickled away and was replaced by annoyance and anger. What was this cat doing here? But the answer was in her mind before she even asked it. It was the source of all her problems at the moment: Draco.

She stomped into the living room where Draco was pulling his shirt on over his head and whacked him before he even managed to free himself from the depths of the t-shirt. A tiny drop of the ocean of her anger evaporated as she caught a glimpse of undeniably beautiful, pale stomach. She hit him again...but mainly just for fun the second time.

"Draco! Why the hell is there a fuzzy creature in my bed?" Ginny shrieked in her best 'I'm a madwoman, you'd better watch your step' voice, kicking him in the shin this time.

"His name is Shadow. And I found him cold and shivery on the porch...what did you want me to do - just leave him there?"

"YES,"

Draco raised his hands in defeat, seeing the signs of danger (e.g. the Voice).

"I'm sorry! You know what? I'll just pick him up out of his warm new home, destroy his sense of security and chuck him out with the rubbish. Because if that's what you want - fine, just don't moan at me when you get woken up at 1 o'clock in the morning because of a wailing cat sitting under a tree desperately trying to keep its frozen body protected from the pouring rain."

Ginny scowled but said no more. She turned and stomped out, which Draco chose to take as a sign of defeat. He picked up Shadow, who had been twirling round his slipper-clad feet, and stared meaningfully into his eyes. Finally, after a few unblinking moments, stroked his cat's head affectionately, earning content purrs from Shadow. That's what I like to see, Draco grinned, a nice and healthy Malfoy Stare.

Seeing as he had past his test, Draco decided it was time they had a little man-to-cat talk. "Listen Shadow, Ginny may be a pain in the arse but this is her house so you and I are going to have to live by her rules. Plus, she's gorgeous and we want to see her smile, because that might mean she likes us, ok? We guys have to stick together, right Shad?" The cat meowed in agreement and Draco nodded, putting him gently on the floor and watched, like a proud father as his new cat began trying to tear up the sofa with his claws.

At about two o'clock in the afternoon, there was a loud knock at the door. Ginny tore herself away from the TV - she was watching her favourite film - Romeo + Juliet* - and went to see who it was. Draco was busy playing with Shadow in the bathroom - he had wisely taken him there, as this was the only place that had no cloth for him to tear up. Ginny, being a fan of the Performing Arts, let out a dramatic gasp as she opened the door and looked briefly, and what she hoped was discreetly behind her to make sure a certain Pain in the Arse and his Sidekick were still in the bathroom.

"Hi Ron!" Ginny greeted her brother, false cheeriness spread all over her pale face, and stepped back from the doorway, ushering her brother in.

"Hi Gin," he pulled her into a warm hug and flopped down on a chair.

"Yeah, you know what? I really need the toilet so I'm just going to go and...go. I'll be back in a sec," and with that Ginny left her brother sitting there on his own, making pretty patterns with salt granules on her recently cleaned table.

She rushed frantically down the hall to the bathroom so fast that she had to grab hold of the doorknob to stop herself flying off into oblivion. Skidding to a halt, she knocked and then barged right in - not bothering with waiting for an answer. She looked down into four cool grey eyes. Spooky.

"Draco, quit playing with the cat and HIDE!" She whispered urgently making all sorts of odd dramatic gestures**.

"Why? Who is it? It's not the Death Eaters is it?" Panic was clear in Draco's voice - it seemed to have raised two octaves from his normal speaking level.

"No, it's worse. It's Ron," Ginny looked gravely down at him, and even the cat appeared to gulp.

"Shit! Ok...I'll just stay in the shower and you keep him busy and..." he clicked his fingers in an attempt to speed up the thinking process, "and when I hear you sneeze I'll take it as a cue to run through to the back door and run and hide in a bush or something. Right?" He knew it wasn't the best of plans, but it was a plan and they didn't have time to sit and talk about it over tea so this would have to do.

Ginny looked at Draco for a second before replying firmly, "Right,"

She looked at him once more before rushing back off to Ron to put the plan into action.

Pulling out a chair, trying to compose herself and slowing her heart rate to calm her flushed face she smiled at her fellow Weasley.

"Ginny! What took you? I made you a cup of tea, no sugar and full cream milk," Ron grinned as he handed her a steaming mug with "Your Favourite Witch" written on the side in colour changing bubble-writing, a picture of herself looking unsure that she deserved the multi-coloured title pasted on the side.

"Thanks," Ginny muttered in reply.

"So Gin, any news? Any gossip? Any anything?" He looked hopefully up at her, and she knew that he was secretly asking if she had found a guy yet. He was so annoyingly over protective. She knew he only wanted to ensure that she was with a lovely man she could marry and settle down with, but it annoyed her all the same.

"No, nothing. Everything is just fine. Fine and Dandy! Hahaha! Why would it not be?"

Damn, thought Ginny, that did not go well. It was supposed to sound casual, but I ended up doing my usual 'please believe me' routine and then everyone knows that something's up

Ron eyed her suspiciously, before leaning forward conspiratorially.

"Ginny, have you found a lover? Is that what you are hiding?" A smile of pure delight crept up his face - he'd already decided it was true, now. There was no way she could let him down now.

"Um, yeah! How did you guess? Um, I'm not sure how long it will last though so don't get your hopes up!" Ginny pasted a huge fake smile on her face, but Ron was too overjoyed to notice.

"Come on then - spill. What does he look like?"

"Well, he's got pale blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. He's tall and average build - you know not too muscly, but not scrawny. He is so tall I have to stand on my tippy-toes to kiss him, and when he leans down to whisper in my ear, strands of his hair fall into his eyes. His entire wardrobe consists of black and -" Ginny's brain ticked furiously as she realised, with an understandable amount of horror (you know, he may be gorgeous but he's still your friends and family's enemy) that she was describing Draco. Why did she do that? She should have made something up about Jon. OH well, too late to change it now. Jeez, she could really do with one of those time-turners Hermione had right now.

"Well Gin, by the way you described him, it seems like you are totally in love!" Ron laughed.

"What makes you say that?" Ginny asked, panic turning her blood to ice. How, exactly, had she said it? It wasn't like she adored Draco or anything.

"Call it married-man intuition. I remember when I was first with Hermione, I always used to speak about her like that," Ron's eyes glazed over and a blissful smile spread across his face, making his eyes sparkle.

Ginny nudged him playfully in the ribs.

"You still do Ron! It's disturbing really - how much you two are in love. I just can't work out what took you so bloody long,"

Ron blushed remembering the many heated arguments that had come after the Yule Ball in their fourth year... it was so infuriating the way Hermione always had to be right. He pulled himself from his reminiscent daydream and back to this new revelation concerning his little sister. His dreamy smile turned into one of glee, "So, what's his name then?"

"What? Oh," Ginny thought quickly. Erm...what do I say now? Let me think of a realistic name...argh! Time is passing! Delay him, her mind screamed, delay him whilst you think!!! "His name is..." She did the first thing that came to mind to stop Ron from finding her out, "ACHOO!" She sneezed...

... Draco had been listening to the conversation whilst playing with shadow in the shower tray, and his ears pricked up as he heard Virginia's description of her "boyfriend". It was him. Stormy grey eyes, huh? His already too large ego swelled slightly, I like that. A small and very genuine smile appeared on his face as he listened to her voice sway with pleasure at his description. His face creased into a frown as he nurtured his queasy stomach that was beginning to churn unpleasantly with all the Happy Chat. It was just too...cute for him. He kept expecting them to break out into the "Care Bears" theme tune complete with Jazz Hands dance routine. His hand left Shadow's silky back at the sound of a sneeze. It's time. He dragged his cat's claws from the loofa*** he was mauling happily, picked him up and bolted out the bathroom...

... As soon as the spitting sound of the false sneeze left her mouth - and, in some ways her nose (I won't go into detail), Ginny remembered, with the slowly spreading horror of someone who has just felt the thick, cold and gooey texture coating their foot, as they realise they've trodden in a cowpat; the Plan. Before she could do anything to reverse things - or save her housemate's life, Draco had bolted out the bathroom door, cat and all. Ginny, ever heroic in the face of danger, threw herself in front of Ron in a final attempt to stop him from seeing the tall blonde catapulting himself from her bathroom. Too late.

"MALFOY!" Ron charged at him with the air of a rugby player, pushing Ginny out the way. There was a painful knocking sound as she bashed her elbow on the wall whilst falling to the floor. She crumpled in pain and made an attempt to get up and stop the fight that was going on between the two men. She cringed as red-hot met pale blonde, and Ron's body, with a loud crashing sound, Draco's side.

The only way to describe the look on Draco's face was stunned as a big ball of clenched fists, writhing long legs and blinding red threw itself on him, knocking him down, painfully. He glanced up and saw the incredibly red and freckly face of Ron Weasley yelling (and occasionally spitting - much to Draco's disgust) furiously at him. A string of insults flew from his mouth as Ron graced him with a hate-powered punch where it really hurts. Not wanting to be outdone, Draco punched Ron in the nose and rolled out from under him with lightening speed as Ron tried to get Draco on the cheek. The feisty redhead settled with kicking him violently in the shin, which Draco returned with a punch in the jaw and a twist of Ron's freckled arm.

Now nobody can deny the Weasley Temper, especially the female Weasley tempers...and right now the sight of her housemate and brother fighting like Gladiators (only without the armour and Something-uss names: e.g. Sparticus, Maximus, Julius...) to the death did not make this particular Weasley a happy bunny. And when Weasley women get mad, everybody runs - or else everybody pays...