An Unexpected Gift

An Unexpected Gift

~ Chapter 01 ~

It was Malfoy's seventh year at Hogwarts, Ginny's sixth. The weekend after school started, Dumbledore held a party out on the grounds for all the sixth- and seventh-year students. He'd gotten red currant rum and mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta, who worked in the Three Broomsticks.

The party was a masked ball, so noone knew who anyone else was. There were real fairies in the bushes for lights, along with the moon and stars. The Weird Sisters were playing and upbeat tune, and the dancers on the lawn were moving excitedly to the beat. The teachers that were chaperoning, however, were not masked: McGonagall, Snape, and Lupin, who had been placed in the Defense Against the Dark Arts position once again.

Malfoy was hanging out in the shadows a little, as he wasn't too keen on dancing with someone when he didn't know who they were. It was about ten o'clock at night, and the party had started at around seven when it'd started to get dark, so he'd had a good amount of mead and rum in him by then and he was a little disoriented.

As he watched the people dance to the upbeat song, a certain someone caught his eye. Her hair was dark, dark red (almost black), and curly. She was wearing tight, dark blue flare jeans, a tight, dark green, long-sleeved belly shirt with a v-neck. Her mask was dark green to match her shirt and was in the shape of butterfly wings. He emptied his goblet full of mead and rum (once again) and headed over to the refreshments table to refill, all the while watching the girl dance with a tall, black boy with dark hair. His mask was circular with two circular holes for the eyes.

Malfoy was wearing black pants, a black t-shirt, and a circular mask that was almost the same as the black boys'. He also had on a black trenchcoat that reached all the way to his ankles.

After the song was over, the Weird Sisters announced that they were going to be doing some slow songs. Malfoy filled up his goblet again, the whole time watching the mystery girl that intoxicated his gaze. And he didn't even know who she was.

Ginny Weasley was having a great time at the party. It was a masked ball so she didn't know who anyone was. Just about everyone had changed their hair and eye color, including Ginny. Instead of her usually straight red hair, her hair was dark, dark red (almost black), and she had used a hair-curling charm on it. She had changed the color of her eyes as well so that instead of their usual shade of medium brown, they were dark black.

The fact of everyone wearing masks and of changing their hair and eye color wasn't the only reason she didn't recognize anyone; she expected she'd have had an easier time of it if she hadn't already had so much to drink. She only recognized the person she was dancing with at the moment as her boyfriend of over a year, Dean Thomas, because she'd come down to the party with him.

The Weird Sisters were playing a fast song and, when the music stopped and they announced that they would be playing a few slow songs, Ginny thanked Dean for the dance with a kiss - made rather sloppy because of her intoxication - told him she'd see him later, and made her way - just a little unsteadily - to the refreshments table. When she got there, there was a guy standing there, watching her.

"Hello," he said. She looked at him. His voice was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Hi."

Malfoy watched the girl make her way towards him. He drained his glass and filled it again. When she reached the table, he said, "Hello."

She turned and looked at him strangely, as if he seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place his voice.

"Hi," she said.
She filled up a goblet full of mead (one of many she'd already had), all the while watching him watch her.

"This party's boring me," he suddenly blurted out. "Do you wanna take a walk?"

"Uh...." She thought about it for a moment. "Sure," she answered.

They made their way away from the crowd to where the sound of the party was muffled (which was not an easy task). They headed over to the Forbidden Forest and walked about five feet or so from the edge of it. They were walking in silence until Ginny broke it.

"So, what's your name?" she asked. "You seem oddly familiar to me, but I can't quite place your voice."

"If you don't know, I'd rather not tell you," he said. "I tend to get judged by my name. But what about you? You're very beautiful. I thought I knew every pretty girl in Hogwarts, but I don't believe I've ever met you before."

"Thanks for the compliment, but I'd rather not say my name either. Certain people tend to judge me by my name as well."

"Oh," he said, "so we have something in common, then."

"I suppose so."

They kept walking and talking for about an hour and ended up at the greenhouses. It was almost midnight then - 11:45.

"Let's go in, shall we?" Ginny suggested. "The plants are really beautiful when the moonlight shines on them through the windows."

"You come in here a lot in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, occasionally. Come on." She pushed the door open. They went inside and he closed the door behind them. They looked around for a few moments before Ginny plopped down on the semi-dirty floor against the wall. Malfoy sat down on the floor beside her.

"So," he said, "what's your family like?"

"Well," she said, "I'm the youngest and only girl in my family and I have five older brothers. I'm actually the only girl that's been born for several generations. One of my brothers works in the Ministry, like my dad. He pretty much disowned our whole family, so I haven't spoken to him for awhile. He lives in Diagon Alley, though, the last I heard. I've only got one brother left here at Hogwarts and he still treats me like a little kid. None of my family understands me at all. It doesn't matter how many times I try to tell them something, they just never listen."

"I know what you mean."

"I mean... they still think I'm that little-goody-two-shoes-eleven-year-old-girl-just-starting-out-at-Hogwarts-doesn't-have-a-clue." She stopped for a moment. "Gosh. Listen to me. Pouring my heart out to a perfect stranger."

"You wanna Firewhiskey?"

"Huh?" She looked at him. He opened his coat. Ginny saw where multiple pockets had been sown in and filled with Firewhiskey and other alcoholic drinks, some of them Muggle.

"A Firewhiskey. It'll help you calm down and relax."

"Okay. Yeah, sure."

He pulled two bottles of Firewhiskey out of one of the inside pockets of his coat and handed one to her. She took it, opened it, and guzzled most of it down in one gulp. He gave her a strange look, then opened his up and took a gulp.

They kept talking for awhile longer. Malfoy told her about his family and how he was an only child, about how his parents didn't understand him, how they were really pushing him to go into the dark arts and join Voldemort, about how he didn't want to have anything to do with anything like that.

"And I wish, for just one time that they would listen to me, just once!" he yelled. He was standing up now, but Ginny was still sitting on the ground beside his shed coat (still containing a few bottles), her legs spread apart a little. He was on about his fifth Firewhiskey, Ginny her sixth (not to mention the other alcoholic drinks they'd consumed), so his voice was slightly slurred and her eyes were a little out of focus. He sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to unload on you like this. It's just... you're so easy to talk to. You're a great listener."

"Thank you." They stared at each other for a moment. "Sit down," she said, patting the ground in front of her. He sat down in front of her, between her legs, and leaned back against her chest, sighing loudly. They sat there in silence, Ginny running her hands through his hair.

After about ten minutes and two more Firewhiskeys each (his last), he turned around and looked at her. "This is gonna sound really weird, but... even though I don't know you... I wanna kiss you.... I wanna kiss you so bad."

"Then do it."

And he did. He kissed her, leaned her back on the floor, and kissed her more. She brought her hands up to the front of his shirt, and started to work on the buttons....