My Fainted Dream

The rain was hard and driving. Thunder cracked overhead, and the wind whipped, sending her robes flying. She was a long way from her room at The Leaky Cauldron, and even a longer way from her parents' home in Ottery St. Catchpole. She could have Apparated, of course, but she was cautious of doing so in weather like this. She'd heard horrible stories of people trying to Apparate during thunderstorms and ending up terribly splinched.

A small pub was nestled between a few shops away from where she was standing. It was The Hog's Head, a pub her parents had always advised her to stay away from. "Shady place, that Hog's Head is," her mother told her when she was sixteen or so. "I don't want you in it, Virginia Weasley."

But where else was she supposed to go in rain like this? Sucking in a huge breath and expelling it through her nose, she ran toward the grubby pub and pushed her way inside.

It was dark, and there were many people wearing black hooded cloaks sitting about. Ginny felt extraordinarily out of place in her robes of green. She heard a few cackles as she made her way to the back of the pub, clutching her shoulder bag close to her body and looking around, brown eyes wide.

The long bar along the back wall was filthy. Perching lightly on a stool, Ginny continued to survey the room. In all honesty, she felt somewhat frightened. I'm just waiting out the storm, Ginny reminded herself. It didn't really help.

***

Draco Malfoy was hunched over his third mulled mead when she came in. He felt an eyebrow lift inadvertently. You didn't see women like that in The Hog's Head everyday. She was gorgeous, and looked as though she came from a very prominent and well-off wizarding family.

Draco inspected her closer, to see if he could recognize who she was. She had red hair, which was not at all uncommon in their society, and soft brown eyes. She had a dusting of freckles across her nose, and her skin was a very pale, almost translucent white. She looked positively terrified as she perched lightly on a stool alongside the bar.

This ought to be interesting, Draco thought.

***

Ginny felt relieved when she saw a friendly face coming at her from behind the bar. The man looked harmless enough, she thought, with his sandy hair and blue eyes. He looked oddly familiar.

Smiling at her, the man leaned across the bar. "Fancy seeing you here," he said. His voice had a slight Irish accent to it.

Ginny smiled back politely. It was rather forced. "Do I know you?" she asked. Surely no one she knew would be working here....

"Aye, you should, we went to school together," he answered, his blue eyes twinkling. Ginny gasped.

"Seamus?"

Seamus nodded. "What on earth are you doing here?" Ginny asked him.

"A man has to feed his family," Seamus said. "And what have you been up to lately, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny grinned, and tilted her head to the side. "It's not Miss Weasley anymore, Seamus," she replied. "It's Ginny LaSalle now. I got married last year, and live with my husband in France. I work on the French branch of the Daily Prophet, and I'm here on business."

Seamus stood straighter now, but still kept a friendly face. "A lucky man, he is." Ginny blushed. "Nice talking to you, Mrs. LaSalle," he said, starting to turn away. "Time for me to get back to working. Holler if you need anything."

"'Bye, Seamus," Ginny waved. He left to attend to a particularly odd-looking woman at the end of the bar. Ginny suspected she was a hag, and shuddered.

Someone grasped her elbow and she jumped as she stared into the ugly face of an old wizard with chipped and yellowed teeth. "Why, hello you pretty girl," he slurred. "What's a pretty lady like you doing in here? Stirring up trouble, hmm? Or are you a Death Eater, too?"

Ginny froze. "Let go of me, please," she whispered.

"What's the matter, pretty girl, you lost?" asked another man, grabbing her other elbow. He laughed wheezily.

"Please, let go of me," Ginny said firmly. This just made the men laugh harder, and hang on more tightly. "Seamus!" Ginny called. He didn't hear her.

The men began whispering in Ginny's ear, and she felt her stomach turn at some of the things they were saying.

"You're disgusting!" Ginny cried. Their laughter was uproarious this time, and they began to jostle her between the two of them.

By this time nearly everyone in the pub was laughing and pointing. Seamus, however, was nowhere to be seen.

More men began to join in with the harassing, and Ginny felt horribly alone amongst the crowd of people.

***

Draco's first reaction to seeing the woman being harassed by the two men was amusement. She should know better than to come in a place like this, he thought. Surely her parents--whoever they are-- taught her this is no pub for good little girls.

However, as the irritating behavior continued and more joined in, Draco was hit by an unfamiliar feeling. What is this? he wondered, knitting his brows together. It's almost like I have a conscience. He wanted to leave it alone. It wasn't his business to get involved in the affairs of others, especially those he was sure he'd never seen before.

Draco was fully prepared to get up and leave until he heard the loud thud resounding about the pub, and the raucous laughter. She was sprawled on the floor, slowly crawling to her knees. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and she looked terrified.

Why doesn't she just leave? Draco wondered angrily. He looked towards the door and saw a small horde of witches and wizards (many of whom his father had been friends with) crowded around, watching and laughing. He shook his head grimly. That would be why....

Having had enough, Draco rose to his feet, his chair scraping backwards over the wooden floor. He seized the woman's upper arms and hauled her to her feet, knocking Finnigan out of the way, who came to break up the fray as she was thrown to the ground. "Up you go," he said, making sure she was steady on her feet, before facing the ugly wizard that started the havoc.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" the wizard spat. "We was just having a bit of fun with the girl."

Before Draco had any time to respond, the man landed a punch square on Draco's face. Cursing, Draco spat on the floor then touched his cheek. His fingers came away wet. Blood.

The blond man had no time to defend himself before Seamus hauled the drunken Death Eater away. Glaring at everyone, and yanked the redhead along behind him as he left The Hog's Head.

The rain had softened from a torrent to a slight drizzle. The woman wrenched herself from Draco's grip, turning to face him, her face alight with anger. "What is your problem?" she shouted. "I don't need help from a Malfoy."

His first feeling upon hearing that statement was confusion. How did this girl know his name? Draco was positive he'd never seen her before in his life. Inspecting her once again, the realization finally hit him when he was staring at her red hair. Ginny Weasley? he thought, baffled. What kind of beauty charm did she use? Draco had never remembered her looking like this when they were at Hogwarts. He would have paid more attention to her if she had.

Understanding she probably was looking for an answer, Draco found his voice. "Right, because you were doing so well on your own," he fired, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"I...I was caught off guard, that's all!"

Draco laughed harshly. "Right, Weasley. Keep telling yourself that, you might start believing it."

Ginny pursed her lips together. "Why'd you do it?" she asked him, hands on her hips.

Now Draco was the one caught off guard. Why did I do it? he asked himself. Surely he wasn't going soft.... He decided it was safer not to answer her.

She reached up to touch his cheek, where the man had punched him. "You're bleeding," Ginny said shortly.

"I hadn't noticed," he replied dryly. Actually, he really hadn't been paying much attention to his minor injury. There was something intriguing about Ginny Weasley--the way she talked, even moved.

"Come with me to my room at the Leaky Cauldron," Ginny demanded. "I have a potion for cuts like this."

"Really, Weasley, I'd rather not. I can take care of myself."

She pondered his answer for a moment. "I owe you. You practically saved my life in there. That's a wizard's debt."

Ginny had him there. Grudgingly, Draco answered, "Fine. Make it quick. I have better things to do then spend my precious time on earth with a Weasley."

She tilted her head towards the sky, sending her long red hair streaming down her back. Draco blinked. She was almost...attractive. He shook his head. Attractive, yes, but a Weasley all the same.

"The rain isn't as hard anymore. It's safer for Apparating," she decided, speaking more to herself than Draco. "Come on, come on, grab hold of my arm." With her left hand she took her wand out of her pocket, and held it over both of their heads.

With a small pop they were gone.

***

"What is this?" Draco asked, clearly repulsed. "It's worse than I thought it would be. Going to your house would've been better than this."

Ginny shot him a reprimanding glare. "This would be where we normal wizard folk stay when we're away from home," she snapped. "We're in one of the rooms at The Leaky Cauldron."

"The Rat Hole would be more appropriate," Draco muttered, pushing his damp silvery hair out of his face. His gray eyes surveyed the room warily. Ginny ignored him. "What are you doing here, anyway? Your parents kick you out?"

Ginny faltered. For some reason, she didn't want to tell him the truth...about her husband, about living in France. "I..." she began, wondering what to tell him. "I offered to leave for a few days because my brothers and their children are visiting for two weeks. It's very...crowded." There. A half-truth.

"More Weasleys? Please say it isn't so," Draco sniffed. There was an awkward silence, and Ginny remembered what he was there for.

"Wait here," she commanded. "I've got the potion in the bathroom cupboard."

She passed through the small entrance into the miniscule toilet, shutting the door quietly behind her. Her arms were quite sore, and reaching up to the cupboard door was a struggle. She grabbed the potion and set it on the countertop.

Draco Malfoy is in my room right now, Ginny thought. She hardly dared to believe it. Had anyone told her a week ago this would be happening, Ginny would have told them they were mad.

The ring on her left hand caught her eye, and Ginny felt an immediate twinge of guilt. Jarrett...she thought. What would Jarrett think? Jarrett was her husband, a fabulous man she had met while continuing her education in France. He was handsome, worldly, and intelligent. They had seemed to hit it off right away, and married not long after meeting, which was something Ginny was beginning to regret. She loved him, or thought she did...but Ginny had always wondered, what if there was someone else? And what if that someone else was right there in the next room? Ridiculous, she berated herself, shaking her head. Draco Malfoy is not your soul mate. Far from it.

She exited the tiny lavatory and re-entered her room to find Draco sprawled across her bed. "Up, Draco," she said. "I have to put the potion on that nasty cut."

"No, I'm quite fine here, thanks," he drawled. Ginny rolled her eyes, and crawled onto the bed, waving the vial of potion in front of his face. Draco's gray eyes widened.

"It's pink," he said, clearly disgusted. "I am not putting anything pink on my beautiful face."

Ginny let out a frustrated grunt, and leaped on Draco, sitting on his chest and pinning his arms beneath her knees so he couldn't move.

"You're cutting off my oxygen supply," Draco pointed out. Not that I mind, really, he added silently. What kind of bloke would object to having an attractive woman sitting on him?

"Then let me put the potion on your face," Ginny retaliated. Draco squinched his eyes shut, and Ginny took that as an invitation to proceed. Gently, she poured a few drops of the horrendously bright pink potion on his injury.

"Ow!" Draco hollered. "Damn it, Weasley, that stings!" He tried turning on his side, so Ginny couldn't add any more potion to the wound. However, he miscalculated how much space was left on the bed, and ending up turning over right off the edge, sending both himself and Ginny sprawling on the floor next to the nightstand. Ginny's arm had somehow ended up in Draco's sleeve, and his knee was pressed into her abdomen.

After a moment of silence, Draco looked down into Ginny's face, which was a mere half an inch from his own. "This is what we call a compromising position Weasley," he said quietly.

"You know, I'd move, but your knee is digging into my stomach," Ginny replied, struggling to move out from underneath him. Draco just kept staring at her. Oh Merlin, this is awkward, Ginny thought nervously. "Could you...get up, please?" she mumbled.

Draco smirked. "No, I rather like it how we are," he said. Ginny's eyebrows knitted together, but before she could object, his lips were on hers. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she wondered silently, What do I do now?

A tiny voice yelled at her in the back of her head. What do you mean, 'what do I do?' Kiss him back, you idiot!

And she did. A moment later, Draco pulled away, smiling at Ginny coyly. Instantly she was hit with guilt-ridden anger. "What the hell did you do that for?" she snapped at him, pushing him away from her. "Who said I wanted you to kiss me?"

Draco's eyes became sharp. "You didn't exactly try and stop me, did you?" he fired. "What's your problem? Prude little Ginny Weasley never been kissed before?"

"Of course I have," she said defensively, and to prove her point she grasped him by the front of his robes and kissed him roughly. She tried to pull away, but Draco had his hands on the back of her head, crushing her face into his.

She thought she was suffocating, but Draco's hands were strong. I'm going to die by kissing someone, she thought, and would have laughed had she been able. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she felt Draco's arms pushing her away from him, and she slid backwards a few inches on the floor from the force.

"Get out," she demanded, turning her head away and letting her hair fall in front of her face, like a curtain.

She heard his sharp laugh. "Not on your life, Virginia Weasley," he said. "Don't you know you're supposed to finish what you start?"

Ginny didn't respond, only crossed her arms over her chest. Her heart was racing, thumping so loudly she was surprised he couldn't hear it. "You know what comes next, don't you?" Draco continued. "Or would you like me to show you instead?"

She snapped her head forward, and locked her eyes on his. "I won't," she said adamantly. Won't I?

"You will," Draco said confidently. "You've already shown me that."

Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go away, her guilty self said. But that nagging voice in her head thought differently. You don't want him to, it said.

Instead, she said: "I don't even know you, Malfoy."

Draco made a big show of sighing and leaning his head against the edge of the mattress. "You want to talk," he said, almost pleasantly. "Fine then. We'll talk." He snapped his fingers, and a large bottle of wine appeared in the air, spinning slightly. Draco grabbed it and set it on the hardwood floor, snapping his fingers again, this time conjuring two goblets. He poured a glass for himself, and one for Ginny.

Ginny sipped at it apprehensively, and Draco watched her in amusement. "All right," he said. "Me first."

***

And he told her. For some crazy reason, he sat there on floor, gulping down wine and telling her everything. He told her of how he had decided to become a Death Eater the last day of his seventh year at Hogwarts when his father gave him the choices.

" 'It's either the world you've grown up around, Draco, or giving up all I will give you for the world Harry Potter helped revive' was what my father told me," Draco rambled. "It was an easy choice for me to make."

"You chose Death Eater," Ginny said glumly, swirling her wine around in her goblet before downing the last mouthful, and then pouring some more. Draco merely nodded. "Why?" she asked.

"I saw my whole life away from the Death Eaters as if I had already lived it. An endless parade of parties and polo matches; always the same narrow people. I didn't want that, I've never wanted it and I never will. I chose what I thought was right for me." He laughed wryly. "I shouldn't have wasted my time. I told my father my choice, and he deserted me anyway. I devoted my life to making that man happy, and all I got was a painful mark on my arm."

"You still have time to make different choices," Ginny protested. "You're still young. There's time."

"No, not anymore. I'm in too deep...too deep to back out now. I used to think that I was put here to take the blame so all the good people could walk free," Draco sighed, then shook his head. "Why am I telling you all this? I've talked long enough. It's your turn to spill your life story."

Ginny bit her lip. What do I say? she wondered. "Er...well, there's not much to tell, really," she lied.

"You don't mean to say you've done nothing since Hogwarts? You're parents haven't miraculously become millionaires? Nothing?"

Ginny was silent, and Draco smirked. "Then I guess we just skip to the drunken sex part," he said. Ginny's eyebrows shot up.

"Nice try, Malfoy, but I don't think so," she said, standing. "I want you out. It was nice of you to help me back in the Hog's Head, but I've done my bit and healed your cut. Now it's time for you to leave."

Draco reluctantly stood. "All right, I'll go. But this isn't the last you've seen of me, Virginia Weasley."

Ginny stuck out her chin staunchly. "You're false charms won't work on me, Malfoy," she said firmly. The voice in the back of her mind was laughing at her.

Draco arched an eyebrow, and before he left he said one last thing. "We'll see about that."