So It Goes

*~*

Ginny was unpacking her Potions book from her bag when Draco suddenly walked into the dungeon and right towards her. It was the first time he had looked directly at her in weeks.

"So, we need to have our lesson somewhere else today. Snape needs this dungeon for something."

Ginny was in so much shock that Draco was talking to her that she didn't realise that he was moving her cauldron until he was up the staircase. Ginny hurried after him, shoving her book back into her bag as she ran.

Once she regained her sense, she began to wonder why Draco wasn't levitating the cauldron up the stairs or down the hallway in which they were now walking. Most wizards would have used some kind of charm to move a heavy cauldron, but Draco refused. Ginny was glad of it.

Draco's rolled up sleeves revealed his well-toned muscles and Ginny was having a hard time not starring. She couldn't help but wondering how he was so muscular yet so lean. Harry was skinny and lanky. Draco was probably just as thin, but his physique was unquestionably as different as could be.

Ginny didn't realise that she had been daydreaming until Draco stopped so suddenly that she ran into his back.

"Watch out," Draco said with less sarcasm than usual. With that, Draco opened a door that Ginny didn't recognize at first. It was only when she entered and noticed it's perfect set up for Potions that she realized what it was.

"The Room of Requirement? Whoa. I guess I thought only us D.A. members knew about this place..." Ginny gasped looking around in awe.

"Well, you guessed wrong. You Gryffindors aren't the only ones who know some of the secrets of Hogwarts," Draco retorted with a small sneer returning to his face.

"Oh, unless you forgot from when you ratted us out to Umbridge, Malfoy, it wasn't only Gryffindors in D.A. Every house except the noble house of Salazaar Slytherin joined," Ginny replied, allowing the word "noble" to drip in sarcasm.

"Is that supposed to be an insult, Weaselette? Am I supposed to feel badly that I followed school rules and tried to make my father proud of me?"

Shocking. Ginny had never thought of Draco's actions like that before. He was trying to serve his family. It hit her then. It must be hard to be good when your family, and all you've ever known, is bad. Being born into a family who was already fighting for what is right must have been much easier than trying to figure out what is right, and then turning on your family because of it. Ginny began to see Draco in a whole new light. He wanted to make his father proud, just like she did. For once she found a similarity between her and the Slytherin. They had the same motivation.

Draco must have been waiting for a retort that never came because once Ginny's mind stopped wandering, she saw Draco staring at her. She had an urge to apologize to him, to tell him that she understood, but all sense fought against Ginny's urge as she began unpacking her things and attending to her cauldron.

Draco picked up on Ginny's discomfort in the conversation and he whipped up the blackboard with the instructions for that days potion, a candy flavoured dreaming potion, with incredible speed.

Draco went to reading a book as he nodded to Ginny to work alone today, something he had never allowed her to do before. So without further ado, she commenced in silence for nearly an hour until the two were interrupted by loud banging on the door.

"Ginny! Are you in there? Open up right now, if you're alright!"

Ginny, appalled, ran to the door and opened it at once.

"Harry, what are you doing here? How did you find..."

"No matter, Ginny. I found you. Don't worry!" Harry barged in the doorway and possessively wrapped his arms around Ginny who slithered from them immediately.

"Harry, I wasn't worrying. I was sitting here, doing my Potions work when you charged in here and interrupted me. What are you doing?" Ginny demanded with her hands on her hips.

"Well, I went to the dungeon to find you so that I could take you to the Great Hall, but you weren't there so I got really worried and I had to find you. I was searching all over the place and I couldn't find you. I--I was worried, Gin," Harry finished, looking sincerely concerned.

"Well, you've found me! Good job. Now, I'm not done here so you go along to dinner and I'll be there later," Ginny sighed, pushing Harry towards the door.

"No, it's alright, Ginny. I'll stay until you're done. Then I can walk you down to the Great Hall and..."

"Harry. Why do you think it is necessary for you to walk me everywhere? Why do you think it is necessary to put your hand on my back and lead me all around the school? I have a brain. I can make it places on my own!" Ginny had finally snapped. All the things she had wanted to say to Harry in the past couple weeks had started spewing from her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Gin, I just thought that you'd rather be spending time with your boyfriend than with that slimey git!" Harry retorted pointing to Draco who had been happily watching the couple bicker.

"Whoa. Leave me out of this, Potter. It's not my fault you can't satisfy your girl. It's not my fault she prefers to be with me. Sorry, mate," Draco shrugged as he smirked and took out a cigarette to light.

"Malfoy. Don't call me mate. And don't you dare insinuate that Ginny actually prefers you to me! And stop smirking, you arse!" Harry yelled back.

"Mate. I hate to say it. But she does actually prefer to be with me," Draco calmly replied as his smirk widened and he continued to puff on his cigarette.

"Well, Malfoy. I disagree. And maybe we should see if we can... resolve our differences," Harry said, his teeth gritted, as he pulled out his wand.

"Harry! Stop! You're acting like a child. I am serious. I need to finish this potion and I'll be down in the Great Hall in literally five minutes. Just go!" Ginny screamed in exasperation as she finally pushed Harry out of the room.

"We're not finished, Malfoy!" Harry snarled, brandishing his wand as Ginny slammed the door shut.

"Dear lord, Weasley. Why are you even with that arse?" Draco asked, seemingly interested, as he sat back down on his stool.

Ginny laughed out loud for the first time in weeks. "Well, Malfoy, I wish I could tell you."

"I mean of course he's all heroic, and you chicks dig that, but really he is quite annoying."

"Malfoy. You're preaching to choir," Ginny sighed pushing her hair back from her face and bottling the potion she had just finished.

"What is this? The Weaselette, who I imagine has been in love with famous Potter for years, recognizes that he has flaws?" Draco said with a faux sense of shock.

"Yes, Malfoy. I do," Ginny replied, spinning on her stool to face him. "I can't believe I'm telling you this, but here goes..."

Draco looked curious and somewhat encouraging, so Ginny commenced to let out all of her frustrations.

"He is incredibly clingy. I can't walk two feet from him without him running to me and pulling me back in. He's overprotective. He is always making sure I'm 'alright'. Alright? What would be wrong with me! And the worst thing of all is that he's a horrible kisser and he..."

Ginny's rant was interrupted by Draco's attempt to suppress his laughter.

"What Malfoy? What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, Weasley. You couldn't expect me to let the fact that Potter can't kiss go? I had to jump on that one," Draco replied smiling.

Ginny realized this at once. Draco was smiling. Not smirking. She had never seen him smile before and Ginny couldn't help but notice how light it made his face look. He looked years younger, careless and...handsome. But he must have noticed her seconds of silence so she pulled herself from his smile and back into the conversation.

"No, of course not. You had to laugh. But it's true. He is probably the worst kisser I've come across. But I think I could overlook that if he wasn't so...so..."

"Overwhelming," Draco finished.

"Yeah. Overwhelming. I feel like I can't breath when I'm with him. Wow, I can't believe I just said that. I've been thinking it for so long. Erm, thanks, Draco," Ginny said looking Draco in the face, still surprised that it was so easy to open up to him.

But, in the next second, Draco's face, which had been soft and understanding, changed instantly. It was as if when she said his name, he just realized that he was talking to a Weasley.

"Whoa, Weasley, don't go spilling your soul to me. I'm here to teach you, blood traitor, because you're too stupid to pass Potions on your own. I'm not here to help your pathetic love life. Meet me back in the dungeon on Monday," Draco spat as he Disappeared the blackboard and cauldron and snatched the potion in the vial from Ginny's hand. He avoided eye contact with her until he left the room and hastily walked down the hall.

Ginny was so utterly confused, but she told herself she shouldn't be. She shouldn't have opened up to a Malfoy. He had probably just enticed her into telling him about Harry so he could make fun of him. She had been tricked. Malfoy had meant to make her feel comfortable so that he could get some juicy gossip from her. But what about his smile. She had never seen him smile before. He normally would have smirked. Well, she didn't know. All she knew was she was dating Harry Potter, the hero of the magical world and it had taken Draco Malfoy's trickery to make her realise that she had been taking this for granted. She would apologize to Harry and forget all the good things she thought she had seen in Malfoy. Malfoy had been a mere fantasy...and fantasy she had cooked up in her mind when she thought that things were going to well. She always ruined things for herself. She had never allowed herself to be happy. But this was her chance. She finally had Harry and she wasn't going to let Malfoy ruin this.

*~*

Draco had just run to his room when he slammed the door before anyone could see him. His face was flushed red and he was sweating. He couldn't let anyone see him in this state. No one ever had, and no one ever would. He had almost gotten too close to the Weasley girl. He had smiled. Hopefully she hadn't seen it. Hopefully she had thought it was another smirk. No matter, he had righted his wrongs by storming out of that room. He had insulted her and things were back to normal.

Except he wasn't. He felt himself slipping. He had seen her fighting with Potter. Things weren't going well with them. She had been so mad at him. She was quite stunning when she was angry. What was he thinking, she was always quite stunning...

No. She wasn't. She was a blood traitor who he needed to help destroy. She was an assignment and nothing more. He would take her to the Dark Lord. That was it.

Only, he knew deep inside that that wasn't it. There was more. But for now, he was going to smoke another cigarette and forget about her, the only way he knew how.

*~*

"Harry, please don't be mad. Hear me out," Ginny pleaded pulling Harry into her room.

"What? You want to talk now? No. Hermione told me you needed my help, that's why I came here. I'm not here to talk to you right now. What do you need my help with?" Harry asked, not looking her directly in the eye.

"Harry, that was a lie. I told Hermione to tell you that because I knew it was the only way I could get you here. I just really wanted to apologize. Please talk to me."

Harry finally looked down at her, sighed then nodded. Ginny smiled slightly and pulled him onto her bed and sat down next to him. But before she could say anything, he started.

"Ginny. How could you? You embarrassed me in front of Malfoy. The one person at the school I couldn't stand to be embarrassed in front of. And now he thinks that you like him more than you like me. How could you Gin?" Harry looked genuinely distraught and even sad.

Ginny put her hands on Harry's face and mustered all of the humility she could. "I am so sorry Harry. It's just...I try to...be nice to Malfoy during those sessions because I'd rather not bicker with him for an hour every day. But, really, I don't like him in the slightest. Not at all...And well," she moved closer to Harry and kissed him lightly, "I do like you Harry. I happen to like you quite a bit."

This apology seemed to suffice for Harry who smiled awkwardly, but the awkward way that Ginny thought was one of the cutest things she had ever seen. She smiled herself and kissed Harry again. It didn't seem so bad this time.

She pulled away and looked at him. His eyes were not grey and emotionless, but deep green and full of love. His hair was not blonde and perfectly primped, but dark and tousled. His face was not fair and perfect, but it seemed more weathered and it, of course, contained the scar that was now legend. Ginny smoothed back his tousled hair, past his green eyes so that she could see his scar. The scar that represented his past and his future and everything that he must do. At that moment Ginny felt gratitude towards Harry that she had never felt before. He was going to save the wizarding world. No one had ever asked him to. He just knew it had to be done. That kind of selflessness deserved something in return.

Ginny ran her idea over and over in her head until she finally decided on it. If she was the only thing he wanted for himself, if she was the only good thing in his life, beyond his impending fight to the death with Voldemort, who was Ginny to deny him.

"Ginny, it's getting late. I better go," Harry said as Ginny finally snapped back into the present.

"No," Ginny replied, pulling Harry back onto the bed. She sat up a bit and kissed the lighting shaped scar on his forehead. "I want you to stay." Ginny looked back into Harry's green eyes and saw that the feeling was mutual. Ginny kissed him softly.

She hardly knew why she had thought his kisses were so bad before. Sure, they were a bit sloppy, but she had to prove to herself what she had told Malfoy was not true. She loved Harry, and always had, and she had been letting little things get to her. So what if he was a little overprotective? That just meant that he cared for her, and hadn't that been what she had always wanted?

Ginny laid back and pulled Harry on top of her. She pulled off Harry's shirt as he looked down at her.

"Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure," she replied smiling as she started unbuttoning her own shirt. Harry smiled back at her and kissed her as passionately as he could. Ginny would still not say she was impressed with his skills, but she was impressed with him. He wasn't as skilled as Malfoy had been in seducing a girl, but he was a git, and Harry was just fine. And she knew this was right. This is what was supposed to happen.

Or was it.

It was only once Harry was spent and had fallen asleep next to Ginny, with his arms wrapped possessively around her that she fully realised what she had done and why. I just had sex with Harry to get back at Draco Malfoy for making fun of me.

"Well, shit," she whispered to herself as she closed her eyes again and tried to sleep. Even though her body was sore and tired, she knew her mind would be racing far too fast to allow sleep to come over her that night.

7/26/07 12:57 AM