All's Fair in Love and Magic

Chapter 3 - What the Future Holds

"Oh no," Ginny groaned at breakfast the next morning, "I'm going to be late for Divination!"

"You took that ruddy class?" Harry questioned. "I never knew that."

"Yeah," Ginny lamented, "my wonderful brother," Ron grinned sheepishly, "convinced me how easy it would be, so now I get to start my morning in North Tower with Malfoy."

"Malfoy? Wait, why is Malfoy in your Divination class?" Harry questioned.

"Well, he didn't start third year with the rest of you, did he? He signed up a year later, when I started in my third year."

"Why would Malfoy take an extra class?" Harry wondered aloud.

"Why would anyone add that class to his schedule?" Ginny shrugged, "Trelawney's a joke; it's really a mystery that she still has a class."

Harry turned to ask Ron his opinion, but the red-head was now staring bitterly towards the Hufflepuff table.

"What's up with him?" he mouthed to Ginny, nodding at Ron.

Ginny hesitated, opened her mouth, shut it again, and pointed subtly. Following the direction of Ginny's finger, Harry saw what was upsetting his friend. There, at the Hufflepuff table, sat Hermione, Justin's arm draped casually over her shoulder. Harry noted, however, that Hermione didn't seem entirely aware of her boyfriend's presence. In fact, Harry thought he saw her sneak a few sidelong glances at...Ron. Harry leaned across the table to whisper to Ginny. "Is something going on that I should know about?" Ginny bit her lip.

"What do you mean?" she asked, rather unconvincingly.

"You know what I mean. Them!" Harry gestured first towards Ron, then at Hermione and Justin. Ginny looked torn. She paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully.

"Not that I can say," she answered finally, leaving the table hurriedly with a quick kiss to Harry. "Gotta go - North Tower. See you at lunch!" She gave his hand a squeeze and dashed out of the hall.

"Strange," Harry mumbled, "definitely strange."

*****

Ginny sighed resignedly as she climbed the silver ladder into Trewlawney's stifling classroom.

"Look!" Draco announced suddenly, "Weasley's hair matches Trewlawney's shawls." Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed.

"How mature," she muttered as she passed him. He glared back at her in reply.

This was the way that they began each class from the first day that Draco had walked into Ginny's third year Divination classroom, mumbling something about his father and a schedule change. Professor Trewlawney had brushed aside his explanation with a wave of her jewel-encrusted hand. "No need to explain dear. I've already seen this. Please take your seat."

Most unfortunately for Ginny, the only available poof had been at her table, and Draco joined her, scowling and loudly complaining about the distraction caused by Ginny's "garish" red hair. Two years later, their relationship was now much less amicable.

"Today, class, we will continue our work with the mystical orb," Professor Trelawney began.

"Oh joy!" Colin whispered. Ginny giggled as Draco rolled his eyes.

Two miserable hours later, Professor Trelawney instructed them to put away their crystal balls, as their time was drawing to an end.

"The two of you who will break your orbs will kindly remain to clean up the crystal before you leave," she requested gravely.

Ginny snickered, "Brilliant prediction," she whispered to Colin. "As if there aren't at least two broken balls at the end of each class."

"I'd like to break a few balls," Colin whispered, gesturing at Malfoy. Ginny laughed at the vicious expression that suddenly appeared on Malfoy's face.

"Think he heard you?" she asked jokingly, as she rose to put away her crystal ball. Draco grabbed his orb and followed suit, pushing roughly into Ginny as she reached out to place her orb on the shelf. "OW!" Ginny shouted as her shoulder smacked into the heavy stone shelf. There was a loud crash as dozens of orbs fell to the floor.

"Graceful, aren't we?" Draco spat maliciously.

"Mr. Malfoy," Professor Trelawney interjected, "I'll ask you to stay and help Ms. Weasley clean this up." She swept through the room, disappearing into her chamber as the rest of the class descended through the trapdoor. Colin gave Ginny a sympathetic shrug as he passed.

"Gee Malfoy," Ginny said sarcastically, "that was bloody brilliant. If you were that desperate to spend time with me, you could've just asked."

Draco scowled, "This is just how I wanted to spend my morning - stuck in Trelawney's fairyland with the Weasley runt."

Ginny smiled sweetly, "I'm sure you'll be more careful next time, then." She knelt with a dustpan and began to carefully pick up the pieces of glass. Draco bent disdainfully and roughly grabbed a handful of cracked crystal to throw in the waste bin.

"Oh son of a --" Ginny's eyes widened upon hearing Draco lose his pretentious air. "Oh bloody hell!" he shouted. As he dumped the crystal into the bin, Ginny saw a steady stream of blood trickling down from Draco's hand.

"Oh," she gasped. She leapt up and took his hand in hers. She quickly picked the glass out of his open wound and pulled her wand. Draco flinched at the sting as she whispered "disenfectaro." She tapped her wand on his palm as she finished "remendaré."

"Thanks," Draco breathed as his hand mended itself.

"You're welcome," Ginny replied. Realizing she was still holding Draco's hand, she quickly dropped her arm and resumed cleaning the broken glass. She sensed Draco kneel down beside her to help. They worked silently for several minutes before Draco stopped, suddenly remembering where he was.

"Clean up your own mess, Weasley," he spat.

Ginny calmly looked up at him, pausing in her work. "Why do you always have to be so horrible?" she implored. "Do you even know how to be civil?"

Draco seemed floored by this simple question. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"It means," Ginny responded, rising, "Are you even capable of being nice - just for a minute or two?"

Draco was torn. He should hex her for asking such an impudent question, and yet...something about her startled him into searching for a reply. "I don't know," he confessed. "I've never tried it."

Ginny laughed. "Well, you should try it sometime. You might find you like it." She gathered the dustpan and walked towards the garbage can. As she turned to deposit the glass, her foot caught a groove in the floor, and she tripped. Draco instinctively hurried forward to help her, but suddenly, a hole opened in the floor and Ginny began to fall. Draco grabbed her arm, but only succeeded in allowing himself to fall through with her. They landed with a thud in a dark stone room.

"Bloody hell! Where are we?" Ginny asked, looking around the cavernous room. The walls were lined with shelfs of teacups, crystal balls, pamphlets ("Finding Your Inner Eye: A Step by Step Guide," "Seeing Is Believing," and "The Idiot's Guide to Divination"), books, and other trinkets. Tables, recliners, and poufs were scattered about the room, and a chest full of red shawls sat in one corner.

"Looks like some kind of storage room," Draco drawled condescendingly.

"Aren't we a master of the obvious," Ginny retorted.

"Well, you're the genius who asked," Draco scathingly replied.

Ginny sighed in frustration, "Let's just call a truce and get back to the problem at hand."

"Agreed."

"Leave it to Professor Trelawney to have a trick storage closet," Ginny muttered as she surveyed her surroundings.

"The woman does seem to love her tricks and secrets," Draco agreed. "Perhaps there is some sort of trigger for a ladder, as there is downstairs."

"Maybe." They wandered around the cellar for several minutes with no luck. "Lato Appario," Ginny tried, pulling her wand. "Escaparo...Salirió...Releasimo." She pushed a few stray red hairs out of her face, "Ayudarme."

"Well," Draco said resignedly, "I suppose we're stuck down here until her next class."

"Malfoy, she doesn't have another class until after lunchtime," Ginny pointed out, "we'll be stuck here for over two hours!"

"I'll be late for Potions," Draco whined. "That's just bloody brilliant. I'll get to explain to Snape, Potter, Weasley, Granger, and the rest how I got stuck in an overgrown closet with you," he snarled.

Ginny pretended to examine her muggle watch. "Well, I stand corrected. You were civil for 3 minutes and 27 seconds - that's even more than I thought."

"Old habits die hard," Draco muttered, almost apologetically. They sat in silence for several minutes.

"Well," Ginny proclaimed, "that was certainly boring." Draco smiled. It was alarming the difference that a smile could make to Draco's appearance.

"If we're going to be stuck here for awhile," he conceded, "we should at least talk. Otherwise, this could get exceedingly boring."

"Alright...So why are you in my Divination class, anyway?"

Draco reflected on this for a moment, carefully weighing what he could and could not say. "Well, at the end of my third year, Professor Trelawney gave a prediction, a real one. It was only the 2^nd real prediction she's made, according to reliable sources, and it was rather absurd. Nevertheless, my father was impressed by her and arranged for me to take her class...to keep an eye out for...anything interesting."

"Hmm..."Gimmy mumbled, deep in though. "Do you know what the prediction was about?"

Draco shifted guiltily on the pouf. "No idea," he replied in a would-be-casual sort of voice. Ginny studied him intensely for a moment.

"Hmmm," was her only reply. She made a mental note to ask Harry and Ron about it later.

"So," Draco began, changing the subject, "just how many brothers do you have?"

Ginny laughed. "Six."

"There are SEVEN of you?" Draco asked incredulously. Ginny nodded. "But that's insane!"

"Well," Ginny responded light-heartedly, "they had to keep trying until they had me, right?"

"Good thing too," Draco breathed inaudibly.

"What?"

"Nothing." He was shocked that he had thought such a thing, much less articulated it. The two continued talking in this vein for several minutes, then the tone somehow changed - from light and casual to something a little more serious.

"Draco, in light of our temporary truce, can I ask you something?"

"Ask away."

"Well..." Ginny paused, choosing her words carefully. "Why are you ...Why don't you seem to...Why do you hate Harry and Ron and Hermione and me? Do you really hate all Gryffindors that much?"

"Truthfully?" Draco responded, "I don't really know." He laughed a little, and the sound startled Ginny. "I guess it's just because I'm supposed to hate you and Ron because our families hate each other. And, I'm supposed to hate Hermione because she's a mudbl-muggle born," he quickly retracted. "As for Potter, well that really goes back to first year." Ginny gave him a questioning look. "I'm not getting into that with you."

"Why not?" Ginny pouted.

"Because he's your boyfriend," Draco stated simply.

"Oh...Well, I suppose that does make sense."

"What doesn't make sense is why..."he trailed off.

"What?" Ginny prompted.

"Alright. I guess it's my turn to ask you a serious question." Ginny nodded, tucking her feet beneath her on the overstuffed armchair. Draco took a deep breath and began hesitantly, "Well, it's just that...Why are you still with Potter?" Ginny hugged her knees to her chest, listening. "I mean, I know he's wonderful, famous Potter and all ...and Quidditch Captain and all that, but...well, I don't know...he really doesn't seem like your type."

"What's my type?" Ginny asked, careful not to sound defensive.

" I don't know exactly...I mean, you seem animated and opinionated and...unique," he paused, trying to think of how to phrase it, "when you're by yourself or just with your friends. But with Potter, it's as though you sort of shrink away into his shadow. It doesn't seem like you and Potter make sense. It seems as though you're only with him because people expect you to be."

Ginny said nothing, her mouth opening slightly. "Oh," she said simply, closing her mouth. They were silent for a few minutes.

"Hello?" an airy voice wafted towards them. "I thought I heard voices." There were footsteps overhead and, suddenly, Professor Trelawney's glittering figure loomed overhead.

"Hello Professor."

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley..." Professor Trelawney seemed to be attempting to piece things together quickly.

"We -"

"No need to explain, dears. I saw that one of you would trip the knot in the floor and that you dears would surely need my assistance. Stand aside." She mulled out a mahogany, jewel-encrusted wand and breathed "Descendio." A white ladder immediately descended from the ledge.

"Why didn't I think of that one?" Ginny pondered. They ascended the ladder quickly and crossed the room, rushing through the circular trap door, down the silver ladder, down the spiral staircase, and into the main castle. They walked down to the Entrance Hall in silence.

As they reached the door to the Great Hall, Ginny turned to Draco. "Bye, Draco," she said simply, giving his arm a quick squeeze. Malfoy took a moment to compose himself before marching through the door and haughtily taking his seat at the Slytherin table. Pansy Parkinson leapt up to greet him, but he ignored her. His vision was focused on the Gryffindor table, where Ginny Weasley was greeting Harry Potter with a kiss.

"Miss me?"

"Of course." Harry draped his arm across Ginny's shoulders. "Where were you anyway?" he asked, "You usually stop back in Gryffindor Tower before lunch."

"Oh...you know..." she replied vaguely, "Stuck in Trelawney's room."

Across the 'Hall, Draco smiled as Ginny sent him a furtive grin. Something was definitely changing at Hogwarts. Things were going exactly as he'd planned.

Ch. 4 - Everyone's Dying to Know