The Secret Admirer

The Secret Admirer

Chapter 3

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"Ron, has it ever occurred to you that I don´t care! You have made the same threat for the last couple of days but have yet to act on your decision. Go ahead and do it, I don´t care." Ginny stretched out lazily in front of the fire as she opened her gifts. Hmmm, she thought, this is pretty neat. She had just opened her gift from Percy expecting a lame book on cauldrons or the like, but had instead received a book called "The 50 Most Popular Potions" by- she laughed out loud- Severus Snape. Well, he does know what he´s talking about, so it´s probably a really good book.

Ron snorted. "Maybe you´d care if you were a better daughter. Gallivanting around the school at all times of night with all sorts of people. You of all people, Ginny, should know not to go searching for trouble, especially after your," he coughed, "incident."

"Ron, how should I put it, but I don´t really care what you have to say because, let´s face it, my pinky can make sounder decisions than your brain." Ginny picked up her presents and left to go to her room.

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Although all the students had been invited to the Christmas dance, only two thirds had stayed. Ginny had gone into the Great Hall to eat breakfast with Harry and Hermione earlier, completely ignoring her brother´s attempts at forgiveness. All the students had been asked to come down that morning because Dumbledore had a message for them. The students were anxious to get changed and go to the dance, but they knew if Dumbledore had something to say it was worth staying for. Finally he arrived, but instead of sitting in his usual spot, he stood near the doors. All eyes turned to him "I know all of you cannot wait to get going on the dance, but first I have two things," he said. He stopped to gaze around the room, causing a wave of impatience to flow through the crowd. "As all of you know, the dance begins at nine tonight, but I thought I would add a special twist to it. All male students must buy make a gift for a female students." The girls grinned wildly as the guys groaned. "You cannot tell anyone- especially your friends- what you are making or who it is for. At midnight the presents will be delivered to the girls and they- if they received more than one gift- must choose which to keep. All senders who are picked shall report to me on the 27th for a special announcement concerning a Yule Ball." Dumbledore turned to leave. "And there shall be no names on the packages. It will be chosen by the love of the gift, not the love for the sender."

Ginny was so happy she thought she would burst. This is the most exciting thing! I wonder what the other surprise is though. Oh I can´t wait! She jumped up to go to her room when she accidentally knocked over a glass of orange juice onto Harry. He just gazed up at her while she blushed and apologized profusely.

"No need to apologize. It could have happened to anyone. I´ll just wash these old rags later," said Harry as he turned around to continue his conversation. Ginny just shrugged and walked away.

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Even though everyone else was running around (especially the guys) Ginny had opted to spend the day in her room thinking about the things to come. Finally at six she decided to start getting ready. She decided to put her hair up the muggle way because it was much safer than charming herself to death. She braided part of her hair and twisted it around her head until she was satisfied with it. Then she put glitter in it and looked in a mirror. I look like a princess. That summer her mom had bought her a strapless gown that was dark green with flowers and matching long gloves and shoes. She dressed slowly and looked in the mirror. Something´s missing, she thought. She looked at her dresser and saw the ring and necklace lying there. That´s the ticket! She put them on and looked in the mirror again. She found that she was very pleased with her appearance. I guess I´m ready to go now. She descended the stairs and left for the dance.

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When Ginny walked into the Great Hall people glanced over at her. Many of them found themselves sneaking more glances though. Who is the woman, is it really Ginny Weasley? Many of the male students stared at her while their dates looked at her with jealousy. Ginny was searching through the crowd too hard to notice anyone else though. But the first person she saw was...

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Draco looked around wildly. He couldn´t spot her anywhere. Finally he managed to spot her red hair, but before he could make his way over there a crowd of boys started to cluster around her. Oh just grand. What can I do now? He felt a tap on his shoulder. "Oh what is it?" he asked impatiently as he turned around.

"Draco my boy, I´m just trying to help. Let me go see if I can get her away from those pitiful fools." He smiled down at Draco, the only boy he could actually stand.

"Well thank you Tom. That´s very kind of you. I´ll be waiting right here."

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"Tom Riddle!" everyone shouted at once.

"No need to get hasty, I was just trying to help. Ginny," he said as he grabbed her hand and led her to one side, "someone is looking for you and sent me to get you. He´s right over there." He pointed to a tall guy that had his back turned to her. Ginny walked over there, much to the protests of her ever- faithful followers. She tapped on his shoulder and he turned, only to reveal... Draco Malfoy! Her mouth dropped in shock.

"Mademoiselle," he said as he took her hand and bowed. "I would be delighted if you would allow me the pleasure of this dance."

Ginny just stared at him. He looks different. His long hair was combed back but random stands still fell around his face. He´s wearing what my admirer said he would be. But so is Colin. And Harry. And Crabbe (who, at that moment, was sneaking glances at her over Pansy´s shoulder). Wait, so was Tom! What is with the green and black? I thought this would be easy to figure out. I suppose I could ask but... She bit her lip.

"Ginny? Hello. I haven´t got all day, " Draco´s voice burst through her thoughts.

"Oh um yeah. Of course. Sure I´ll dance. But I only know one dance." She blushed when he laughed. "It´s not funny! We could never afford dance lessons, so I had to teach myself."

"Well which dance do you know?" he asked impatiently.

"The tango," she said in a whisper, looking around to make sure no one had heard her.

"What´s wrong with that?" he asked her. "I´ve had ballroom dancing lessons since I was 5. I´ve danced the tango a trillion times." He looked over at the musicians, who weren´t really playing anything; they were just sitting there watching their instruments to make sure they played the right music. "I´ll be right back," he muttered. He raced over to the conductor and whispered at him. The man nodded happily because he finally had something to do. Draco came running back. "It´s all set," he grinned happily.

"What is?" Ginny asked when all of a sudden the first notes of a tango reached her ears. "Oh no, I am not-" she was cut off by Draco pulling her to the dance floor. He grabbed her waist and started doing the first steps. Ginny tried to pull away but she couldn´t move, so she decided to go along with it. This is the only dance I know, she reminded herself. The dance grew faster and she felt herself loosen up. They danced their way across the room and past all the students, who had stopped dancing in order to watch them. Ginny was sad when the dance ended, but when she looked up and found everyone staring at them, she realized they had all stopped dancing to watch her and Draco. She blushed furiously and started to walk away when a red- faced Ron dashed towards them. Oh no. This isn´t what I need to deal with right now.

"Malfoy, get your dirty hands off my sister!" he shouted.

Draco just looked at him, amused. "Shove off Weasley. This isn´t your business."

"This is most definitely my business. This is my little sister you´re talking about and-"

"Ron, take Draco´s advice and shove it. I´m tired of your attitude. Stay away or I´ll hex you," Ginny said as she rolled her eyes.

"Virginia Weasley, you will not talk to me like that," Ron looked at Ginny exactly like he had looked at Pig when the owl had chewed on his broomstick over the summer. She smirked at the thought.

"Too late Ron, I just did." She grabbed Draco´s arm and steered him towards a table. The crowd of people just stared at her as she passed. "Sorry for the disturbance," she said. Most of them went back to dancing and talking, but she still received some strange looks. I can´t wait until midnight, she thought happily as she sat down next to Draco.