How Do You Choose Between What is Right and What is Easy?

Chapter 13

Draco stared back at her, in disbelief that she had been thinking the exact same thing he was. It occurred to him, then, that maybe he had been too afraid to mention it, to the point where she'd been forced to bring it up on her own.

He leaned towards Ginny and took her hands in his own. She gave him a slightly confused look, as if she hadn't expected him to be so happy and delighted by what she'd said. "What?" she asked, the confusion not quite leaving her face.

"It's just that... I was thinking the same thing. I just didn't want to mention it because... I wasn't sure how you would react to my suggesting something like that."

"Really?" Ginny asked, staring at him with a longing that made his heart melt. "Really? You want me to come live in Slytherin house with you?"

"Of course!" Draco said. "I would like nothing more."

They smiled at each other for a moment. Then, Draco leaned up and pulled Ginny into his lap. He held her close to him in a warm and tight embrace. He laid his head on the top of hers, and ran the fingers of his right hand slowly through her hair. They both stared off into the fire, deep in thought.

Draco's mind was consumed by thoughts of what life would be like living with Ginny. However, he couldn't comprehend (neither of them could) what would happen next. All they knew that night was the bliss of being inside each other and in each other's arms.

~ THE NEXT DAY ~

Ginny and Draco walked down the halls of Hogwarts, side-by-side and hand-in-hand. They were heading to the Slytherin common room. If they were going to get all of Ginny's stuff out of Gryffindor Tower and down to the dungeons without creating a scene (and without being seen by any of the teachers), they were going to need some help.

They reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room which, to any who were unaware, it appeared to be just a stretch of the stone wall. They stood in front of it for a moment, before Draco turned to her and said, "Are you sure you want to go in with me, or do you just want to wait out here while I get a couple of guys?"

Ginny took a big breath and let it out slowly. She was silent for a moment, looking down at the floor, before looking back up at Draco and saying, "I'm going to be living here, so I can't exactly be afraid to go in there, can I?"

Draco smiled down at her. "No, you're right. You can't."

"I'm just going to have to get used to their... discomfort... for a little while until they get used to having me around."

"And I've talked to most of them about what's been going on. Not everything!" he added hurriedly at the shocked look that had begun to form on her face.

"What exactly did you tell them?" she asked, the shocked look on her face not abating.

"I just told them that Potter cheated on you and now you pretty much hate his guts. I also told them that we're dating. So no one should give you much grief at all, if any."

"Okay. That's fine, then."

"So, are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she said, the unsureness she was feeling showing plainly on her face.

"So not very, then?" he asked, grinning.

"Not at all, actually," she said sheepishly.

"You'll be alright. Come on." He squeezed her hand tightly before saying the password. When the wall slid open, he led her silently inside. They waited just inside until the passageway slid shut again.

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs.

"Wait here," Draco said to Ginny, and directed her to a comfortable looking armchair that sat beside a dark mahogany coffee table with a glass top the color of emeralds. While Ginny sat down on the armchair, Draco went over to the Slytherins by the fire. She couldn't see who they were, nor could she hear what Draco was saying as he leaned down to speak in someone's ear. She settled back in the chair and waited for him to rejoin her.

It took a few minutes, which gave Ginny time to check out the décor in the dungeon common room. Everything was either black or emerald green, and almost everything had some kind of a decoration of a serpent. After a couple of minutes, Draco came back over to her, followed by five people.

The first four that she could see were male. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle stood directly behind and to either side of Draco. To the left and right of them stood Marcus Flint who was back at Hogwarts this year because of an internship he was involved in with Professor Snape) and Blaise Zabini. Ginny had expected these four, as they were close personal friends of Draco, and had never showed any real animosity towards her. However, the person that stepped out from behind the small group of boys, was someone Ginny definitely didn't expect.

A girl about Ginny's height, Pansy Parkinson had short, glossy-black hair and a face that sort of resembled a pug. She was known as the leader of a gang of Slytherin girls, who enjoyed their free time either following the popular Slytherin boys around while they wrecked havoc, or tormenting the new first years from the other houses. She had also been known to admire Draco in her early years, her admiration reaching almost to what could be called infatuation, following him around and shrieking with delight whenever her did something mean-spirited.

Ginny gaped a little as she came out from behind the four men.

"Didn't expect me to want to help, did you now, Ginevra?"

"No, I didn't, to tell you the truth," Ginny admitted. "What makes you want to help?" she asked suspiciously.

"Anyone who hates that bastard Harry Potter and wants him dead is definitely a friend of mine. And when they decide to forsake Gryffindor and move into Slytherin, that only solidifies their friendship with me. That's the ultimate blow to a Gryffindor."

"Wow..." Ginny said, more impressed by Pansy's vocabulary than by the meaning of her words. "You really feel that way?"

"Of course," Pansy said, smiling the first real smile Ginny had ever really seen grace her face. "You're family now. We Slytherins have to stick together. Just let me round up my little gang and we'll be on our way to the Gryffindor common room."

"Your... gang?" Ginny asked questioningly.

"My group of Slytherin girls," Pansy explained, still smiling. "Trust me. You'll have their full support."