Over Time: First Friends

"Shut it, Ron, this dress is perfectly respectable." Ginny scowled and stuck her tongue out at her brother as they waited for Hermione and Harry to arrive before apparating to Hogsmeade to catch a carriage to the reunion planned at Hogwarts.

"That's not a dress, it's a cocktail napkin." Anything Ron might have added was cut off by Harry's arrival.

"Hermione'll be along in a minute. We got caught up at the office and she wanted to go back to her flat to get showered before coming here." Harry leaned over to kiss Ginny's cheek. "Where's the rest of your dress, Gin?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Someone remind me why I didn't just floo over to Malfoy's and meet you prats there?"

"Because we're much better companions than that git?" Ron said hopefully.

"No, I think it was more that I didn't want to deal with soot in my hair and his apparition wards are on the fritz." Ginny looked thoughtful. "Of course, it could be because I sinned in a past life..."

"Would that be the one where you were named Witch Weekly's most heartless flirt?" Harry tugged on one of her curls, only to get his hand slapped.

"Or maybe it was when you cruelly left poor, heroic Harry Potter at the altar, breaking his fragile heart." Ron sniffled and sighed through this melodramatic announcement, only to have two fists head towards his arms. "Hey, hey, go easy."

"Yeah, Harry, we have to leave him pretty for when Hermiiiiiiiione gets here." Ginny ruffled Ron's hair and snickered at the way he turned bright red.

"Would you leave off? Hermione's not interested in me like that." Ron turned to fuss with the chess set on the table, and Ginny coughed to cover the noise of Hermione's entrance.

Hermione looked confused as anything as Ginny clapped a hand over the older woman's mouth and slanted her eyes significantly at Harry before dragging Hermione out of sight. The boy wonder took his cue and said, in a tone too casual to be true, "So you said Hermione doesn't like you that way, but not that you don't like her. Why's that, do you think?"

"Come off it, Harry, blind goat herders in the Carpathians know I adore Hermione. She just doesn't feel that way, and I wish you'd shut up about it before she gets here." Ron picked up the queen and ran a hand down her face before saying, "I won't have her being made uncomfortable. Besides, I think she likes you that way, and if you hurt her by trying to palm her off on a twerp like me, I'll have to beat you bloody, friend or no."

Ginny took the opportunity to hiss into Hermione's ear. "The next plan after this involves a locked closet and no clothes, so this is your last chance to say flat out whether you like him or not."

Hermione squeaked as Ginny gave her a hard shove and she almost fell at Ron's feet. He managed to catch her even as he turned parchment pale. "Her-Hermione! When did you get here?"

Hermione found her toes suddenly a matter of infinite interest. "Erm. Right around the part where Carpathian goat herders know more than I do." Gathering every bit of the legendary Gryffindor courage, she managed to drag her eyes up to his and saw something there that was very much to her liking. A sly smile crept across her face and she leaned towards him, to the point where their noses were almost touching, and whispered sotto voce, "Although I understand their next plan involves throwing us naked into a locked room, so we might want to wait for that before we actually admit that we've been complete blind idiots for years."

"Don't forget cowardly." Ginny stepped out and straightened her admittedly minimal skirt. "Anyway, Harry, I think we should go on ahead."

Ron looked at Hermione, then at his sister, then at his best friend, then back at Hermione. He whispered something in her ear and she went all pink, but cleared her throat and said, "No, we'll come along now."

They apparated, Ron seeming to forget his objections to Ginny's attire in the face of holding Hermione's hand. As they were climbing out of the carriage at Hogwarts, Hermione leaned in to Ginny and whispered, "He said if we didn't stick to chaperones, he wasn't sure about his self control. Don't be surprised if we disappear early so I can test that."

Ginny snorted. "After all these years of pining for each other, you'd better cut out early, or I'll be convinced neither of you got issued hormones."

"That can't be little Ginny Weasley, can it?" Ginny found herself being lifted in the air and twirled. "How's about a buss for your old friend Seamus?"

"Seamus, Seamus... Do I know a Seamus?" Ginny's eyes danced as she looked down at the still-boyish face. "No, the only Seamus I knew never had eyebrows. Unhand me, stranger!"

"Aw, Gin-love, you wound me" He pantomimed an arrow to the heart.. "Only the kiss of a fair redhead can revive me."

Ginny smirked. "Oi, Ron! Seamus says he wants you to kiss him!" Ginny laughed as Ron turned bright red, Seamus slightly less so.

She laughed harder when Hermione, though pink, shouted back, "Well, you tell Seamus to keep his lips off my property." Everyone milling around joined in the laughter and Hermione and Ron were surrounded by old friends. Ginny stood back a bit, looking around at the place that held seven years of memories.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a kiss on the side of her neck. "Malfoy, you bastard, haven't you ever heard of saying the word 'hello'?"

"I think someone mentioned it once, but they were peasants, so I wasn't paying attention." Draco was in full Malfoy mode, and she felt the corner of her mouth jerk up in response. "Nice dress."

"I have it on good authority that it's not a dress, it's a cocktail napkin." Ginny reached over and straightened his tie, then patted his chest in satisfaction. "There, now you could pass for handsome... In a good light. I'm glad you finally got rid of the beard."

His eyes roamed over her from head to toe, taking in artfully tousled curls, a strapless, backless dress that ended well above the knee, and heels high enough and spiky enough to qualify as weapons, tied on with ribbons that matched the dress. "Nice cocktail napkin. I don't think I'm worthy."

"You're not, but I'm done with dating for a while, so I might as well take the opportunity to make some nice boys chew their livers out for having no chance." Ginny sighed and nabbed a champagne flute from a passing house elf's tray.

Draco gasped theatrically. "Ginny Weasley, bachelor girl, is giving up dating? The restaurant industry will go into a recession."

"Haven't you been reading the news? The master guild of restaurant owners and florists in the greater Diagon Alley area have been begging me to reconsider for the whole two months that I've been cloistered." She poked him in the stomach and started walking away.

"And here I thought you were sacrificing so much by spending time helping me heal my wounded heart." He heaved a melodramatic sigh. "So what's wrong with dating that you don't want to indulge? I thought all you single people spent all your time out doing glamorous things and hopping from bed to bed. I was quite looking forward to giving it a try."

Ginny snorted. "It's not just muggles that can catch nasty things from sleeping around. Do I look stupid?" His mouth closed abruptly as her elbow jabbed sharply into his stomach. "Besides, it's so boring. You meet someone, you get dressed up, you go to the same restaurants, the same movie theaters, and then you have to deal with octopus hands."

"Hmmm, I could deal with octopus hands, I think." Draco looked somewhat wistful, at least for the three seconds he could maintain the look.

"I suppose you could, oh Slytherin Sex God." Ginny shook her head. "I just got tired of it. I found myself lying under some guy whose main qualification for the task was that he was nice, had a stable career, and we'd been dating for a month. And all I could think was, if I do a good job faking it, I can go home in time to watch the news."

"The /news/?" Draco looked horrified. "And what did I tell you about faking orgasm?"

"It only guarantees that he'll never give me a real one," she parroted dutifully. "But considering all I was thinking about was going home to curl up with a hot water bottle and the weather forecast, I'd pretty much decided not to give it another go. Why not leave him with an ego boost?"

He shook his head. "Hot water bottle, indeed. Next you'll start thinking of chocolate as a substitute for sex or some such rubbish."

"I don't like chocolate all that much. I use something ordered out of the back of Witch Weekly instead... And not the recipe section." He choked on the champagne he was drinking and she smirked as she walked away, hair swinging behind her. She paused to look over her shoulder. "You coming?"

"Depends on where you're planning on taking me." He knew he should be coming up with some kind of witty banter about her last statement, but his brain had presented a very detailed mental picture and he was having trouble shaking it off. It was unnerving, to say the least.

"Down to see Hagrid. He owled that he had a surprise for me, for my birthday." Ginny waited for him to catch up, then latched onto his arm. "Stupid heels. Why do I wear them?"

"Because you want to be crippled for life from fallen arches, broken ankles, and sore toes?" His brain was screaming at him to remember this was Ginny Weasley, his completely platonic best friend. He shook his head. Maybe he just needed to get laid. It'd been so long, anything female would cause a reaction.

"Yeah. That and they make my legs look a mile long." She looked supremely satisfied and they walked on in silence, enjoying the temperate summer evening.

They came in sight of Hagrid's hut and he looked up, his eyes twinkling. "Ginny! It's great to see ya! Come look at your present."

"Puppies!" At her shriek, Draco winced and lifted a hand to his ear.

"Did you have to shatter my eardrum just to state the blindingly obvious?" Ginny, however, was not paying one bit of attention to him, having run ahead to look at the squirming bundles of fur more closely. Draco followed with considerably more caution, never having developed the affection for Hagrid which somehow blinded Ginny to the risk of dealing with his creatures.

"Malfoy." The half-giant nodded cordially, but returned quickly to talking with Ginny about the dogs. "Turned out Fluffy's a girl, and she and Fang got all friendly-like."

Ginny bit her tongue fiercely to avoid giggling at the way Hagrid's visible skin had gone all red, and at the mental picture of the two very differently sized dogs engaged in being friendly. When she could trust herself to speak, she said, "So are they mean, like Fluffy can be?"

"Naw, not a bit! Well, maybe a little." Hagrid stopped blustering and grinned. "They're really protective, and they really hate bursts of light. They don't get to be too big, not too much bigger than Fang here, but they still love music."

Draco rolled his eyes as Ginny picked up one of the smallest puppies, which was roughly the size of a full grown labrador. All three of the puppy's heads nuzzled against her cheek and started licking her affectionately. "I think it likes me."

"That or it thinks you're food. Considering this is one of Hagrid's crossbreeds, that IS an option." Draco shook his head. Somehow, he didn't need Trelawney around to predict that Ginny was going home with an overlarge canine.

This earned him a withering glare. "Shut it, you. Just because you're too big a git for animals to like you doesn't mean the rest of us are similarly afflicted." She went back to making inane baby talk with the puppy and Draco looked out over the pen, which held dogs of various sizes, including several that looked like draft horses.

"This fence is secure, right? It'd be a huge liability for the school if something were to happen." This time Ginny's glare was almost a physical thing, and he winced with the certain knowledge that one of those sharp heels was going to be crushing his foot as soon as she was done with her puppy euphoria.

"Of course it's secure! You leave Hagrid alone, you big bully." Ginny stuck her tongue out at him, which is exactly when a chirpy voice called out "Smile!" and a bright flash of light went off.

Pandemonium can either describe the capital of the inferno or a wild uproar. Both definitions seemed accurate as all the hellhounds broke loose. "Don't panic, don't panic... But a spot of running wouldn't be amiss!" Hagrid bellowed as he started chasing dogs that were running in every direction.

Draco didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed Ginny's hand and made for the hut, but was cut off by several off the dogs. In between bouts of swearing, he muttered, "Apparently, age does not equal wisdom. Damn Creevey still doesn't know when to put the camera away."

"Malfoy! Malfoy, let go!" Ginny was gasping for breath. "I need to go find my puppy."

"You really are an idiot, aren't you, Weasel?" Another dog appeared behind them and snarled. Draco didn't even bother thinking, just picked up Ginny and started running again. "Take your shoes off."

Spluttering, Ginny said, "What are you on about now?" He was fumbling with the ribbons holding her shoes on while still running, and she marveled at the amount of coordination he had, not to mention strength.

"You can't run in those damn things, so take them off. I can't carry you indefinitely." His breath was in her ear and she tried to shut down the tiny voice in the back of her head that was pointing out the pleasantness of it. She shook it off and reached down to take her shoes off. As soon as the second one left her foot, he put her down.

"Oh, my sodding hero." Her glare might have been effective if he hadn't started running again as soon as he'd put her down.

He turned his head to look at where she was running beside him. "I think you've mistaken me for a Gryffindor. Come on, up a tree." Considering she could feel one of the dogs panting behind her, she didn't argue, just took his hand and swung up to the first branch. It didn't take long until they were both sitting high up in the branches, looking down at one of the larger dogs, who was circling the tree and showed no signs of leaving.

"Maybe I should reconsider the no dating thing. There are advantages to being bored." Draco snorted at Ginny's plaintive tone, then laughed outright when she continued. "My stockings are shredded, I hope you know. And those shoes cost more than a solid gold cauldron."

"Only a Weasley would be worried about the cost of a pair of shoes when confronting a stampede of hellhounds." He could feel the heat of her glare and was thankful that circumstances were such that he wasn't within kicking range.

"You know that I'll have vengeance for that when we get down, right?" Ginny's tone was pleasant, but Draco winced, knowing the threat was very serious. They sat for a few minutes, legs dangling as they listened to the baying of the hellhounds and all the shouting going on in the distance. Finally, Ginny said, "Anyway, since we seem to have some time to chat... Why aren't you dating? It's been eons since your divorce and you spend all your time hanging out with me."

Draco felt offended. "Are you implying that you don't enjoy thrashing me soundly at video games?"

"I do tend to kick your arse, don't I? But that's not the point." Ginny swung her legs idly from the branch she was sitting on. "The point is, you've let that harpy influence you for far too long. I want you to be happy, Malfoy."

"Happiness is not having to deal with picking up random women and having the urge to throttle them within half an hour because of their utter incapacity of saying anything sensible." Draco broke a twig off the branch above him and tossed it down at the dog's middle head. "I could just go out and get laid, but what's the point? At least with my hand I don't have to buy dinner or call the next day."

Ginny growled. "Draco Malfoy, there are plenty of intelligent women out there, and I'll remind you that the last time you implied otherwise, I didn't speak to you for six months."

Draco wobbled as he avoided the stick she threw at him. "Name two."

"Me and Hermione." She giggled and stuck out her tongue at him, which made him roll his eyes.

"And if I were to approach either of you, your brother would decorate the Burrow with my entrails." He shook his head ruefully. "Not to mention that Granger's not what I call sexy, and you know too many of my awful habits."

Ginny laughed. "Yeah, I guess I do. Although I did have a crush on you at one point."

Draco almost fell out of the tree. "You did? Tell me all about it, wench."

"It was your third year, the quidditch match against Gryffindor. You came out in those green robes and looked distinctly edible." Before Draco could fully preen, she continued, "Of course, it lasted all of two minutes. Then Oliver Wood came out, and you were forgotten."

"WOOD?" Draco's bellow made the leaves shake and the dog that was still pacing under the tree sit down and howl. Ginny laughed as he grumbled, "Oliver bloody Wood, I ask you."

"Well, he was truly hot, with a capital yum. Those muscles, and that accent, and..." Ginny broke off in a shiver. "I wonder if he's still single?"

Draco seriously contemplated tossing her off her branch. "I thought you weren't dating?"

"Exceptions can be made," she said primly. "Anyway, back to you. You want a woman who is intelligent, good looking, what else?"

"Tall. Not fat, but not one of these women that diet to the point of emaciation and think it's attractive. Understands what bumphing is, and can recognize a Wronski feint. She's got to have a sense of humor, too. Nice, but not too nice. She should be good with kids, because I don't want my kids palmed off on a nanny once I have them, but she should also be able to be a great hostess on formal occasions." He stopped and gave Ginny a wink. "And she should be dead sexy, willing to push the dishes off the table and fuck like wild animals."

Ginny felt unaccountably grumpy. "And after she descends from the heavens and turns water into wine, this paragon is supposed to want to date YOU? Hah!"

Draco gave her his best come-hither smile, which she did her best to ignore. "Are you questioning the Slytherin Sex God?" After she rolled her eyes, he said amiably, "So what is it you want in a man? Besides making you forget about the bloody news."

"Hmm. There is that..." She looked thoughtful. "He should have enough money so that I don't end up stuck with the check every time. Not expect me to laugh if his jokes aren't funny. Either taller than me or secure enough with being shorter that I can wear heels without offending his masculine ego. And he should be able to play in a pickup game of quidditch if and when we go to the Burrow."

"What, no requirements as to--"

"Don't finish that sentence." Ginny looked down and sighed. "I wonder how long we'll be stuck here. I wanted to see Parvati, and Dean, and maybe flirt a bit. Have some fun."

Draco grunted. "Oh, I like that. What do I have to do, start a bloody singalong for your entertainment?"

Ginny's eyes lit up. "Malfoy, I could kiss you! You're brilliant."

Draco idly tossed a stick down and watched as the three heads fought for it, reducing it to splinters. "You've obviously never heard me sing."

"Come off it, I know you sing in the shower. And while drunk." Ginny snickered, but continued, "No, don't you remember what Hagrid said? Music calms them down."

A grin split Draco's face. "Why didn't you say so before?" The grin faded and died as he found his pockets to be completely wand-free. "Bloody hell. You wouldn't have your wand, would you? What am I saying, of course you don't. Not in that dress."

"Never underestimate a Weasley, Malfoy." Ginny's smug face was swiftly illuminated by a glow from her wand. "So now what?"

His eyes went over every inch of her, with special attention to the inches covered by her dress. "Where on earth did you have that hidden?"

"Let's just say suspender belts are multi purpose garments and get on with whatever brilliant plan your little Slytherin brain has conjured up for getting past this beastie." It took ten minutes for Ginny to learn the invisible orchestra spell. Within one minute of her casting it successfully, the dog was asleep and Draco and Ginny had made their cautious way to the ground.

"Come here, I need you for balance." Draco stood patiently while Ginny held a hand against him and used the other one to roll down her stockings. "We can use these for a leash."

Grumbling, Draco complied. "So what now? We go find someone for you to flirt with?"

"Nah, then I'd have to put my shoes back on. Let's go get my puppy and then we can go play Grand Theft Auto." Ginny grinned impishly as she led the docile beast back to its enclosure.