Can't Decide to Love or Hate You

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Chapter Four

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Draco smiled at himself. The episode in the hallway went perfectly well. He saw jealously flash in Harry's eyes, and now that Draco knows what it feels like to have The-Boy-Who-Lived jealous over him, he craved more. He has always had a knack for picking on Potter, annoying him, and basically trying to be as rude as possible to him, but no amount of bullying or bragging could equal making Potter jealous. Draco's smile grew more into a smirk as he thought about how much fun he was going to have playing with Potter.

And fun he better have. He didn't know that else to do, now that playing Slytherin Sex God was out of the question. 'Damn Weasley,' Draco thought with a frown. Although it was still the first week of school, Draco could have easily had a shag by now. No sex was starting to get to him. He was becoming more restless, more uneasy, and definitely more turned on.

Draco shuddered slightly at the flashback of grabbing Ginny's ass. It seemed such a good idea at the time, and he was positive that any male would do just as he did. But the fact that he was aroused by it frightened him. He kept on telling himself it was the lack of sex, and half of him did believe it. But the other half?

Draco's thoughts gradually ceased to nothing as his eyes grew heavier. Professor Binns always had a habit of putting him right to sleep with his boring lectures, and as best as he tried, Draco could not pay attention. Draco half heard his professor talking about some goblin rebellion in 1892, but it suddenly seemed so far away. Giving up entirely, Draco laid his head down on his desk in a very un-Malfoy manner and surrendered himself to sleep with a certain red head still on his mind.

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Dinner just ended, and after a delicious meal of roast beef and potatoes, Draco fancied himself for a walk around the lake alone. Nothing could ever beat walks at night when the dark night sky was clear with stars and the air was crisp. The September weather was starting to cool down, and a slight breeze stirred the leaves on the ground. All was silent except for Draco's footsteps, making crunches on the dead leaves as he walked on. He went to pass by the lake when he paused to view the moonlight pouring onto the reflection of the water. Draco casually bent down and grasped a small pebble, throwing it across the smooth surface. Ripples developed slowly as Draco stood there watching, arms placed on his sides.

He was so entranced at the sight that he did not hear another set of footsteps crunching on the leaves nearby. Draco jumped slightly as someone joined him and slid their hand into his. Surprised, he turned his body to the intruder, eyes growing wide at who it was.

"Ginny?" he whispered, afraid to raise his voice in such a silent night.

Ginny responded by taking a step closer to him. The moonlight highlighted her face, bringing out her gorgeous features. Her brown eyes twinkled, despite the dullness they usually carried. Her small nose was sprinkled with light freckles, which led down to her pale cheekbones. Draco's eyes paused at her lips. They were pink and full, looking soft to the touch and pure to the mind. Subconsciously Draco licked his own lips, and slowly brought his eyes back up to meet her own. She reminded him of an angel. A beautiful angel that he should not be allowed to touch, but yet he was.

Draco looked down at their entwined hands. What was going on here? Something in the back of his mind told him to pull away before anyone could get hurt, but his body would not act upon it. Ginny's delicate thumb rubbed up and down his forefinger, sending shivers down Draco's spine. Draco quickly looked back into Ginny's eyes, his heart beating fast.

Draco opened his mouth to question her once more when she took a step closer, leaving them only inches apart. She was so close that he could have counted every freckle on her face, and apart of him could have stayed like that all night to do so. Draco hesitantly brought his free hand up to her face, debating whether or not he should dare to touch something so beautiful. With a deep breath, he brushed his hand against her cheek, barely touching her skin. Ginny closed her eyes softly at the presence of his touch, only encouraging Draco not to stop. He trailed it to her fiery red hair, tangling his fingers into its thickness. Freeing his other hand from hers, he placed his fingers under her narrow chin, gently lifting it up towards his.

His movement caused Ginny's eyes to flutter open, staring right into his gray orbs. Draco stared at her for only a moment, but what felt like an eternity. 'I shouldn't do this,' he argued with himself. 'What am I doing? This is wrong.' He paused his thoughts as he glanced from Ginny's lips and back to her eyes.

'Then why does it feel so right?'

Slowly, Draco leaned his head down to Ginny's, his face so close to hers that he could feel her hot breath. Taking one last look at each other, they both closed their eyes as they moved into what would change their lives forever. His lips were so close to hers, so close to finally giving him what he had always wanted.

"MR MALFOY! THIS IS CLASS TIME, NOT NAP TIME!"

Draco woke up with a jump at Professor Binns loud and annoyed voice. He looked around him confused on why he was suddenly in a classroom filled with students and not out by the lake with Ginny.

After a few seconds of confusion, Draco's mind finally adjusted to the environment around him. He never did go outside after dinner, heck, he didn't even have dinner yet. He was still stuck in his History of Magic class, and still bored out of his mind. Draco sighed loudly. It was just a dream. There was no walk around the lake, there was no Ginny, and there definitely was no kiss.

Draco's eyes grew wide. Did he just have a dream about kissing Ginny, actually, almost kissing Ginny? Draco rested his forehead on the palm of his hand, face scrunched in deep thought. It had to be the lack of sex, he told himself. That had to be it. At this point he wouldn't be too surprised if he started to have fantasies with Professor McGonagall. Draco tried to smile at his attempt to understand why he would dream such a thing, but something couldn't explain one thing: Why his heart was was still beating just as fast as it was in the dream.

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Ginny followed her routine of eating by being the first to arrive, and the first to leave before any certain Gryffindors could catch a moment with her. She hastily made a ham sandwich and took it upstairs with her to the Gryffindor common room, planning on eating there while she did her homework. She was rather sick of planning her schedule around Harry, Ron and Hermione's so she would not run into them. After all, the point of her and Draco's plan was for people to see and to know of them. She did not plan on hiding her whole life, she just did not want to hear another lecture from Ron that she knew she was going to get, or Hermione giving her Know-It-All looks to her. But the one person she did not want to run into was Harry, even though the day's events certainly brought him to her.

Ginny sighed loudly as she sat on a red couch with her Potions homework. Snape assigned her extra homework as punishment for her tardiness, and to this point she would be up all night writing about different Love Potions and why most of them are banned from usage. She was halfway through on writing her own opinion of the matter when the portrait hole opened to the last three people she wanted to see.

"VIRGINIA WEASLEY!" Ron's voiced boomed twice as loud in the near empty common room.

Ginny jumped at his voice, spilling ink all over her assignment. "Ron! Don't scare me like that," she said with an annoyed growl as she used a spell to clear the ink.

Ignoring Ginny's comment, Ron walked over to her sitting form and stood right in front of her. Harry and Hermione also followed, but choose for the safety of their lives to stay behind a few feet. Ginny started at Ron, waiting for his wrath to unleash.

"Well?" Ron said, his voice trembling with suppressed anger.

"Well what?" Ginny asked innocently as she made a move to continue with her homework.

"Ginny, I am done with playing this Cat and Mouse game," Ron said through clenched teeth. "You tell me right now what is going on with you and Malfoy. No more avoiding it, and no more Malfoy to come and save you."

Ginny glanced over Ron's shoulder at Harry, whom was currently staring at his feet. How typical for him to go off and tell Ron what happened earlier in the hall.

Ron followed Ginny's glance towards Harry. "Don't look at him to blame," Ron said, looking back at Ginny. "Half the school heard about you and Malfoy being all over each other in front of Harry."

Ginny gasped with anger as she quickly stood up and faced Ron head on. "Draco and I were not all over each other!" she nearly screamed. She hated how rumors always ended up half true.

Ron narrowed his eyes at her. "He was there touching you, wasn't he?"

Ginny was about to reply with an explanation but stopped herself. She studied her brother before asking in a quiet voice, "Since when do you care?"

"Since when?" Ron screeched. "Since the day you were born and I was given the position of your older brother! That's when!"

"Oh really?" Ginny asked slyly. "I guess you took a little vacation from your so called position these past few months."

Ron looked at his sister completely bewildered. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. "You didn't seem to care so much about me when Harry was playing with my heart, now did you?"

Ron's flustered face quickly turned pale. His eyes quickly left Ginny's. "Well, well you see," Ron stuttered.

Ginny found herself smiling Ron's torn expression. She was starting to understand why Draco found so much amusement in this. "There's no need to explain, Ronald. I see exactly how it is," Ginny said with venom in her voice. "Not until the damage is done do you decide to jump in and try to be that older brother. You knew from day one that Harry thought nothing on me, and you just stood by and watched your baby sister get hurt." Ginny paused to take a deep breath. "I congratulate you on your tremendous duties as an older brother," she spat out.

Ron stared at Ginny, pale and speechless as before, but now with a hurt expression on his face. When he made no move to apologize or even to tell her off, Ginny pushed past him so she could walk up to her room. When she reached the bottom of the steps Hermione called out, "Ginny, we just want to understand what is going on between you and Malfoy. We don't want to see you hurt again."

With her back to them, Ginny scrunched her eyes in annoyance. Why are they all so keen on helping her after it was too late? Making sure she wasn't shaking with anger, Ginny turned around to face the three of them. Ron still stood in the same place, Harry was still looking at the ground, but at least Hermione dared to look into her eyes.

"You really want to know what's going on between Draco and I?" Ginny asked quietly.

Hermione nodded her head, not daring to speak. When Ginny made no move to protest, Harry cautiously looked up at her, also awaiting her answer. Ron continued to stand frozen in shock, but Ginny knew that he too was listening. Ginny sighed to herself. It was now or never.

Trying not to look just at Harry, Ginny replied simply, "Draco and I are together," as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry's face paled slightly, but he knew better than to speak at the present moment. Hermione looked at the two boys, before deciding that she should speak for all three of them. "But why?" she asked, for once not understanding what was going on.

Ginny rolled her eyes at her. If she was so smart, why couldn't she just figure it out? "Because," she replied with a hint of annoyance in her tone, "It seems that Draco has liked me for quite some time, and I too have always found him rather attractive." Ginny wanted to smile at her lie; it was rather good for being put on the spot.

Hermione looked repulsive at the idea of her finding Malfoy attractive. "But Ginny, it's Malfoy. And what about Har-," she started to say, but quickly closed her mouth.

On impulse Ginny was going to glare daggers at her. 'What about Harry? What about the fact that Harry and I are no more? Stupid twat,' she thought to herself angrily. Did she just call Hermione a twat? Draco was definitely rubbing off on her. Ginny was about to say exactly what was on her mind, except for the twat part, when she paused. What would Draco do in this situation? Ginny smirked, knowing he would take as much pleasure in this as he could.

"I know its Malfoy," Ginny said with a sudden note of happiness in her voice. "That's what I thought at first too, but all he needed was five good minutes with me alone to change my opinion on that."

Hermione gasped loudly, Harry's eyes grew wide, and Ron finally moved from his frozen position. Before giving anyone a chance to respond Ginny added, "And Harry definitely wasn't at my mind at the moment. If I recall correctly, it was Draco's name I was crying out."

With a satisfied smile, Ginny turned to walk up the stairs, half skipping along her way. She could only imagine what was going on inside of their heads.

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