Something's Missing

Part Two: Into the Woods

It was the last day of their enforced camaraderie, and Ginny Weasley, plan or no plan, was ecstatic because of this fact. It wasn't that the work was tedious and difficult, but because her companion's idea of conversation was complaining and pick-up lines, followed by loud guffaws of laughter.

"Can't blame me, can you Weasley? I mean, with a target like you..."

The last remnants of Ginny's control disappeared, and she stood up, brushed off her robes, and walked away from her now startled companion.

"Weasley! Wait!" Ginny didn't even turn around.

"If you want to avoid getting hexed, Malfoy, I suggest you go stop following me. NOW." Ginny expected the memory of her Bat Bogey hex to stop him in his tracks, but he was either more stupid or more determined than she had previously observed, because he caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder.

"Weasley, you are not leaving me to finish collecting those damned roots by myself. Snape's reason for giving us this detention was not for you to go storming off..." Draco's voice trailed off and Ginny whirled around.

"What do you mean Snape's reason?" She glared at Draco, and he smirked back.

"You didn't really think that he gave us detention for poor hearing, did you Weasley? Snape may be unfair, but he's not quite that absurd. I've been thinking about it for a while now, and I've done some research..." he stopped, looking at Ginny's face. It was interesting, because unlike his own mask of indifference, everything she felt was written plainly on her face.

"Need I continue, or have you connected the dots yourself?"

"I think I've got it. Tell me if I'm wrong." She stopped, as if trying to collect her thoughts. "Troia root is the main ingredient of the Umbra Posterum potion, isn't it? And that was really what I heard, not umbra presa, as Snape said. What about you? Did Snape really tell you umbra praemissum?"

Draco shrugged. "He might have, he might not have. What I want to know is how he figured out that we were going to bump into each other, let alone that you would consult me on your Potions homework and not Granger..."

They were standing there mulling over the facts when Ginny suddenly had one of those Aha! Moments that happen so frequently in cartoons. Except a little light bulb didn't appear over her head...

"What if... No, that's absurd..." Ginny stopped herself for fear of scaring her companion.

Draco raised one eyebrow in his inimitable (and admittedly sexy) way, as if to say Go on...

Ginny took a deep breath and dove headfirst into the abyss. "What if he knew because he could... manipulate coincidences?"

To her surprise, Draco did not laugh. He actually seemed to be considering it, absurdly enough. After a moment or two of concentrated reflection, however, he shook his head. "No, that's not possible. They've been trying to develop something like that for centuries and still haven't been able to find a way. It's very unlikely that a man such as Severus Snape could have discovered it by himself."

Ginny cocked her head to the side confused by Draco's unexpected candor and his dismissal of Snape. Harry she could see saying something similar but more scathing, but Draco...

"When did this sudden 360 on the topic of Snape occur in your brain, Malfoy?" Ginny asked, amusedly. She knew at once that she had made a mistake in confusing his sudden friendly manner for actual friendliness, as his face clouded over with anger and disgust.

"What am I doing?" he spat out, venom dripping from every syllable. "I'm actually talking to a Weasley. My father would be ashamed of me. Remember, Weasley. Your kind are only good for two things-- fucking and killing."

He then turned on his heel and stomped back toward where they had been collection troia not so long ago, leaving a hurt and stunned Ginny Weasley behind. She stomped back towards the castle as if she had her own personal raincloud.

_______________________________________

Ginny came stomping into the Gryffindor common room, muttering to herself. The few words that Hermione could discern from her strategically placed seat were "Malfoy," "sodding," and "bastard."

"Care to share your latest grievance?" Ginny literally jumped two feet into the air. She clutched her hand to her heart. "Hermione! You scared me out of my wits..." She avoided Hermione's gaze, but the older girl could tell that something was wrong.

"Ginny, come on. I've known you since you were ten. It's not as though you can even try to hide things from me at this point..."

Ginny sighed and sat down, prepared to explain the whole debacle to her friend. "It all started that night I saw you reading that romance novel under your covers..."

At the end of her tale, she looked up from her hands, which she had been scrutinizing, sighed, and put her head in her hands. "I guess I'll have to abandon my project now. I was misinformed. I thought Draco Malfoy was a human being."

Hermione pulled her fuzzy pink blanket closer around her body and thought for a moment. "So, his exact words were 'Your kind are only good for two things-- fucking and killing'?"

Ginny nodded, and she noticed a spark come into Hermione's eye. "Aha!" She said, the exclamation coupled with the requisite finger pointing. "He fancies you!"

She doubled over, overcome by laughter, while Ginny sat stiffly in her chair, aghast. Quietly, she said, "How do you get that from that?"

Rubbing out the stream of tears that had accompanied her laughter, Hermione explained, "He's said similar things to me before. They've all involved nasty forms of torture, but never has he mentioned anything about wanting to fuck me. I think that you've got ferret boy's knickers in a twist!" Frowning slightly, she looked at Ginny. "Or would it be boxers in a twist? Oh well. I mean, it doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it."

Grinning at her friend's attempt to lighten the mood, Ginny got up. "Thanks for that, Hermione. Talking to you always makes me feel better. Although I still don't think Malfoy fancies me, I think my homicidal tendencies toward the Slytherin Sex God have been curbed, for the moment. God knows, it would be suicidal! The entire female population of Hogwarts would lynch me. Including McGonagall... I've seen those looks she's snuck towards him when she thought no one was looking..."

And on that note, Ginny satisfied her dramatic tendencies by sweeping grandly out of the common room in the direction of her dorm.