The Secret Admirer

Chapter 3: Cupboards

"You two will be spending your detention scrubbing the floors of this dungeon the muggle way," Snape made a slight gesture towards the muck covered, disgusting (in Ginny's opinion) floor. "Understand?"

Snape didn't wait for a reply; he walked out of the room, calling behind him,

"Come and get me when you are done." Ginny gave a small groan as she looked at the floor, thinking about the task that awaited her for the night.

****

"Weasley, get another rag," Draco ordered, throwing aside his rag that had been ruined from cleaning the floor.

Ginny was appalled at the idea of her serving Malfoy, even when they both had detention.

"I am not your personal slave, and I refuse to get a rag for you when you can very well as get one for yourself."

Draco laughed at her, well it was less like a laugh and more like a sneerish snort.

Draco continued to work with his muck-covered rag, making more of a mess instead of cleaning. Ginny's rag eventually needed to be replaced also, but the two kept working, each of them determined that they wouldn't be the one to get a new rag. They each got splattered with the remnants of their rags, but they continued to be stubborn.

Ginny didn't move towards the cupboard in any way because she knew if she did, Draco would make her get one for him as well. It was very childish to do this, but they both kept working, and as they did, they covered themselves in filth.

"I am going," Draco said after a while, throwing his rag down.

"Where are you going? I am not going to finish this on my own. We both have detention you know."

He laughed.

"Don't get your britches in a bunch Weasley. I'll be back soon."

He left, not waiting for any more protesting.

Ginny took advantage of this opportunity and ran over to the cupboard.

She scanned the shelf, seeing everything else, but a rag. She searched faster, knowing that Draco would be back any second. She walked farther into the closet.

"Ah," she whispered to herself. "There it is." She quickly turned to leave, but found that the door was shut.

"Please don't be locked!" she hissed, and ran over to the door. She turned the knob, but the door wouldn't budge.

"Of course! It had to be locked!" She reached into her pocket for her wand, but only came up with some lint. "And my wand is up in my room. This is just great!"

She slumped up against the wall, and waited for someone to come.

Draco would be back soon, but the idea of him saving her was laughable.

****

Ginny sat in the dark, confined room for a quarter hour before Draco came back into the dungeon. She leaned her ear up again the door, and listened for the sign of anyone else besides him.

"Where the hell did that Weasley go?" she heard him ask himself. "No matter."

Ginny heard the clicking of his boots coming closer. She looked away from the door, and stared at the floor. A moment later, her eyes became accustomed with a new sight. Draco's shoes.

"Ready to get me a rag yet?" he asked, snorting.

"Malfoy," Ginny said and hoisted herself up. "You can just go ahead and get it by your da-" She spoke as she began to head for the door, but she was too slow. The door shut again.

"Damn it!" She kicked the door in frustration.

"Oh no," Draco said bleakly. "A door has shut. What are we going to do to get out? Gee Weasley, maybe we should turn to knob and let ourselves out."

He walked over to the door and turned the knob. Ginny couldn't stop herself from giving a small laugh when he was unable to open the door.

"Shit!" he yelled, among with other curse words. "We're stuck in here!"

Ginny sat herself on the other side of the room.

"Now we wait."

"I am not waiting for God knows how long to get out of this...place."

"Well then, what do you suggest we do? Your 'charming' looks sure aren't going to get us out of here."

"Now how would you know that, you haven't tried them."

****

Two hours, two very long hours, later, Ginny and Draco were still stuck inside.

"How much longer until someone notices that I am missing?" Draco whined.

"Let's just wait in silence," Ginny said through gritted teeth.

They sat there for another hour, each of them looking in a different direction. As Ginny said, they did sit in silence.

There was a dull crack.

They each rose onto their feet.

"What was that?" Ginny asked.

"It sounded like someone walked into the dungeons."

Ginny pressed her ear against the door.

"Where did they go?" a voice said. "They left everything out still."

There was a sound of someone fumbling for something, and she heard them walk towards them. Ginny backed away from the door, and ran into Draco, causing both of them to fall in a heap on the floor.

"Watch it."

"You shouldn't have been right behind me."

The door opened and a dull light came it. It was Professor Snape.

"What exactly are you two doing?" he asked curtly. Draco and Ginny looked at each other and then to Professor Snape. Draco stood up immediately, pushing Ginny off of him.

"We were locked in," Draco replied, eyeing Snape as if to ask him, "What did you think we were doing?"

"Finish cleaning the floor then you are dismissed," Snape said, turning around and leaving.

Ginny sighed and left the closet to finish her hours of work still left.

****

That night as Ginny lay in bed, she found that she couldn't sleep at all. She laid there, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. The girl's whose bed was next to hers had started to snore as the cool breeze from the window blew across Ginny making her sheets wave.

In with the breeze came a school owl. Ginny pushed herself from her pillow and scurried over to the owl.

The owl dropped the letter and hooted softly.

Why is it hard to say,
What my heart so yearns to speak?
I notice everything you do.
When you drop a pencil,
The way you laugh,
The way your head drops when
you hear a sad story.
A beautiful thing,
Our love could be.
But never shall we know,
If I can't speak the words.

Ginny folded the letter and placed it in the drawer with the others. She smiled to herself and climbed back into bed.