The Perfect Plan

Chapter eight

The Perfect Plan

Sleepless nights

~*~~*~~*~

Ginny opened her eyes feeling the soft sheets between her fingers. She turned over onto her back and stared at the ceiling, that wasn't her ceiling. That's not my ceiling, she thought rolling over onto her side and sitting up. She swung her legs over the edge of the large bed. This isn't my bed, where am I? She got up and looked around quite dazed and a little scared by not knowing her surroundings. Then it hit, the days events came flooding back to her and she calmed down a little. Sighing, she made her way back to the bed and lay down bringing the quilt up to her waist.

"What am I doing here?" she asked herself after thoroughly giving herself a talking to. You shouldn't be here, you should be at home in your own bed looking at your own ceiling, what are you doing here? She lay like that for a while in the dark listening to nothing and hearing nothing. Upon realising that she was not going to sleep anytime soon she sat up again. Only after that did the rumbling in her stomach begin. It was then that she remembered that she had not eaten all day. She rubbed her stomach through the shirt that Malfoy had given her to sleep in. It was a soft cotton shirt and most likely the shirt to a pair of pajamas. It had little moons and dragons all over it in a pattern where the dragons would jump for the moon but wouldn't be able to reach it so they fell back to the ground. When he gave it to her, she had thought it cute and almost laughed at it before remembering he was still in the room.

She tried to ignore the rumbling but it came again, louder and longer than before. She felt for her wand and got out of the bed feeling for the door handle and walked out unto the corridor.

"Lumos," she said into the darkness. Her wand tip radiated in a golden light that flew down the hallway. But when the light went on, sounds from all around her rose in volume.

There was creaking to her left. She turned sharply toward it becoming suddenly jumpy when another sound to her right picked up where the other had left off. She passed a few portraits that looked upon her in concern. She couldn't hear what they were saying though through the sound of her own breathing quickening and wavering to the echoes all around her.

"Have we seen her before?"

"I don't know. You there, have you been here previously?"

Ginny ignored them and ran downstairs toward the front door. It wouldn't open. She had to find a way out of there. There were too many things going on here for her to handle. It was a mistake coming here, she thought as she looked for another way out.

She remembered the kitchen, she had gotten in from the kitchen. She made her way to the back of the house but in doing so her feet felt a small heat as she passed large double doors on her left. She stopped and walked backwards a little way to feel it again. She looked down, there was a light at the bottom of the door. There was someone in there because a fire was burning. Thinking that she would feel safer in there than outside, she pushed on one door and it opened noisily. She made her way inside feeling promptly warmed as she entered the bright burning light of the fire at the other side of the room.

She looked around, the fire burned bright enough for her to see the whole room. Books lined every wall, every doorway to other rooms possibly filled with more books. She had never seen so many. Not even in the library at school.

"Nox," she said. Her wand tip burned out and she slid it up her sleeve. She tugged on the bottom of the shirt she was wearing that just made it over her thighs and walked more into the room brushing her hands over the spines as she went.

Just then, as before, she heard a noise and she felt a presence in the room that she had not sensed before. She turned startled. There was nothing there and the feeling went away. She turned back to the bookcases and read the titles on the spines of the books when the feeling came to her again.

***

Cordelia awoke first feeling the heat from the fire, the room had gotten rather warm despite it being the Slytherin dungeons. Something had woken her up, she was not a heavy sleeper unlike her mother and instead of opening her eyes she listened out for any trace of an intruder. She could feel another presence in the room besides Chayse that still lay down beside her. She lay still as the presence got closer. It wasn't until she could feel the coldness of the stranger that she opened her eyes and grasped whoever it was by the throat.

"Who are you?" she asked with a violent tone.

Chayse, who was until now asleep, jumped awake and looked around for the cause of the disturbance. When he turned towards Cordelia she was awake and had a hand at Zabini's throat.

"Cordy what are you doing, let him go!" he almost yelled careful not to wake anyone up. It would not bide well for his classmates to wake up and see a Gryffindor strangling a Slytherin.

She caught herself and let him go abruptly. "Sorry Ben, I didn't know it was you," she said embarrassed.

As he broke free of her grasp he struggled to breathe again and only spoke when his breathing was under control. "That's er - that's alright Weasley, I'm sure you didn't mean it." He rubbed his neck to get rid of the redness that had formed around where she grabbed him. "That's - quite a - grip you have there," he breathed.

"Sorry about that. I'm not that much of a heavy sleeper and my mother - well she taught me some things. It's become a natural reaction I guess, are you alright there?" She moved closer to him to see his throat but as soon as she did he mirrored her movements and backed away.

"That's - that's alright I'll be fine. I think - I think I'll just go to bed. Um - Chayse?"

"Yeah?" he replied still sidetracked by his best friend's actions.

"I took We- Mara back to the tower, we almost got caught but she's there now."

"Okay Zabini I'll see you in the morning."

He turned and walked faster than usual to his dormitory without looking back. Cordelia watched him as he gingerly made his way through the door still rubbing at his neck.

"He should put some ice on that," she said thoughtfully.

"And you should start with your explanations. Where the hell did that come from? And don't you dare feed me that lie that your mum taught you those things because I know they're not true and you are definitely not that light a sleeper."

She sighed softly. "I don't know where it came from, Chayse." She sat down on the sofa again and started playing with her eyes. "It just - kicks in whenever I feel vulnerable, I don't know where it comes from. I once took off my friends head when she came to wake me up, it's frightening Chayse she didn't talk to me all week. "

"Well what happens, can you explain it?"

"Well, for one I guess I am a heavy sleeper but I suppose I'm selective. I can sleep the whole day away but one small out of place noise and I wake up, then it's like this sixth sense that I have. It's like I can tell if something is around me without seeing it. For example take just now when Ben came in, I woke up when I heard something I guess it was the portrait hole. When I woke up the first thing I felt was heat from the fireplace, then I started listening for anything around that was making noise. I heard footsteps, soft but there nonetheless. When he came closer I - I could feel it, you know? Then I felt this coldness near me and I knew he was right next to me. He just came in from outside and that was the only logical reason anything cold would be in the room, right? I didn't know it was him though I swear I didn't."

"I know you didn't, it's okay. He says he's fine, you don't need to worry. One thing's for sure he'll think twice before waking you up again," he laughed. Reluctantly she felt a smile tug at her mouth and joined in.

***

Draco had spent the rest of the night in the library and he had even fallen asleep a little. The sound of an opening door woke him up and his eyes flew open as he looked out from the balcony where he had been sitting. He had positioned a desk and a chair up there to look out on the rest of the room purely to see whoever it was coming in from downstairs.

Silently, he moved his chair back and went to stand by the edge to look over who it was that had come in through the doors. He didn't see anyone. Surely if someone was in here and then left I would know? he thought.

"Nox," he heard.

Oh, it was her. He stood and waited for her to walk in. Eventually she did and he just stood there and watched her. She was wearing the shirt he had given her. It was strange, he hadn't even noticed that it was the top half of the pajama bottoms he had on now. Hmm. He shoved that to the back of his mind. The last thing he should be thinking about was what she was wearing but he couldn't help it. She looked... breathtaking.

He had always remembered her in a certain way, in the back of his mind where he was sure no-one could see him watching her. All those years ago, when the entire school had united there was a lot of pressure. Being together for that long meant getting to know each other better. Both of them, if anything, had taken it a little too far. But when the war was over, they both knew nothing could come of it. He had duties to fulfill promises to another family and she had left without a word, and without a fight. They hadn't seen each other for years after that. In that time he had married and had a son and she had found someone else and had a daughter. Who in turn had become best friends. Fate it seems was not without a sense of humour.

He chuckled despite his need to stay silent. He had hoped she hadn't heard it but she did. She turned quickly, startled at the noise but there was no-one there behind her. He smiled to himself, she hadn't noticed the balcony he was standing on. He moved back a little but as he relaxed the pressure on the wood, it creaked and she turned again this time in his direction gasping at the noise.

He watched her as she looked at him, her face changed from alarmed to relaxed as she sighed in relief at the sight of him. She looked at him closer in a white t-shirt and pajama bottoms, he almost looked like she remembered him.

"Can't sleep?" he called to her from above.

She snapped out of her daze and answered, "Not really, I woke up and I felt hungry so I came in search of food." She stood waiting as he disappeared and reappeared on the stairs that led to the balcony above.

"Well, I regret to inform you that you have come to the wrong place," he said signaling to the books around him.

"Well I regret to inform you that I think your house is haunted."

"What?"

"Haunted, there are noises coming from everywhere. They frightened the living daylights out of me."

"Oh, you mean the paintings on the walls?'

"What?"

"There are portraits and paintings everywhere. They make noises from time to time, I guess I don't really hear them anymore because I'm used to them."

Ginny's mouth made an understanding 'oh' shape and she looked to the floor. Her hair spilled over her shoulders and caught in the bright light of the flames. Draco's eyes caught the vibrant red of it as it fell onto her front over the first few open buttons of the shirt he had given her.

"Um - did you, did you say you were hungry?" He swallowed hard and concentrated on the door behind her.

"Very," she said in a thankful voice.

"Well, follow me. I'm sure there's some kind of pre-made food in the fridge." He walked outside and held the door for her to follow.

"Apagarius," he said as he left the room. The flames lessened and died completely as he shut the door.

They walked slowly to the kitchen and Ginny sat down on a stool at the island in the middle of the room.

"Incendio!" he said and the fire in the kitchen roared. Draco went over to the other side to open the fridge. The light from it lit the whole kitchen and the cupboards and surfaces came into view. He bent over to see into it and Ginny caught sight of his trousers, they were the other half of the shirt she had on. I wonder if he's noticed, she thought as he brought out a few sandwiches wrapped in clear film.

"I think that these were supposed to be my lunch, so I guess there's no harm in eating them now. Here you go. Would you like anything to drink?"

"Erm," she said as she unwrapped the film. "What do you have?"

"I have absolutely no clue." He stood and put his hands in his pockets and smiled.

Ginny cocked her head to the side. Hmm, just as I remember him, she thought. "Well," she said out loud. "I guess a cup of tea wouldn't do any harm. I assume you know how to make one?" she smiled to the side of her mouth.

"Yes," he said in an obvious way. "I've done it before... once, but I'm sure I can do it again."

She raised her eyebrows. "Sure you can." She watched him as he went through all the cupboards searching for the cups, some sugar, a tea bag and went into the fridge again for some milk. Ten minutes and three tries later there were two cups of steaming hot tea sitting on the counter in front of her.

He waited patiently for her to taste it. "Well?" he asked as she sipped on it.

She sat there, playing with it in her mouth and put on a face like she was trying to figure out how it tasted. He was getting more and more on edge.

"How does it taste?" he asked again.

"Patience," she chided and then took another sip.

"Weasley."

She burst out laughing, almost spilling tea down the front of her shirt. "Oh I could die from your face right now!" she laughed. From the look on his face she could tell he just wanted an answer. She calmed down. "It's perfect, Malfoy, absolutely perfect." She smiled at him and took another sip. "Though for the third try I'm not at all surprised. I could have sold tickets for people to watch you make a cup of tea."

They both laughed at this and then sat in silence eating. She looked around again. It looked very homely there, especially with the fire burning at one side.

"How long have you lived here?" she asked him when his mouth wasn't full.

"I moved here with my wi -." He stopped and looked to the ground wondering if that was the right thing to say to her.

"With your wife, Malfoy, you can say it. I got over that a long time ago." She bit into her sandwich again.

"Maybe."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

"No, finish what you were about to say." He didn't speak. "What, you think that you're so high and mighty that no person that has ever known you can get over you? Think again Malfoy."

***

"I think I had better go back now, my roommates would be wondering where I am."

"Okay then, be careful of Filch's cat."

"You're not coming with me?"

"Cordy, if I do then there is a great chance that I would end up falling asleep there. I don't see why you can't just sleep here, you've done it before, plus it's a weekend tomorrow."

"Are you sure your friend's won't mind?"

"Don't worry. Besides with that death grip you have there I don't think they'll challenge you at all." He got up and offered his hand. "Come on." She took it and followed him to his dorm.

***

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it. You may have been able to forget it all in one go and shack up with some other man Weasley but I can assure you that it took me a little more than a few weeks to forget you."

"What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." He threw down his sandwich and picked up his cup to drain it down the sink. When he turned around she was still sitting there watching him.

"Apagarius," he said to the fire and it died instantly. "I'm going to bed. I'll wake you up tomorrow to take you to the station."

"What? You're leaving?" She spun on the stool to follow him as he left.

"That's usually what I do when I say I'm going to bed, Ginny." He continued walking through the hall way and through the living room to get to the stairs.

She stopped at the mention of her name. He hadn't called her that in years. Hell, he hadn't called her. She knew that it was partly her fault because she had left him, but even if she did, she had given him plenty of time to come after her. In all honesty he had no reason to be angry, if anything, she should be the one leaving him standing in the living room. With that in mind she pulled at the crook of his arm. "No, you're not! I want an explanation now, what do you mean?"

He let out a frustrated sigh and turned to her unaware that she was actually so close. She was so determined that she didn't even notice and bumped into him when he turned. She looked into his eyes, they were a leaden gray and troubled as if he had been fighting with this for a while but had beaten it down only to have her stir it up again.

He looked down on her as she watched him and all logical thought flew from his mind as his eyes fell on hers. She was just as beautiful as the day she had left, without so much as a goodbye. And as much as he had tried to convince himself that he hated her, he couldn't. He was in love with her then. He was still in love with her now. With that thought in mind, he lowered his head and kissed her. He wasn't at all surprised that she kissed him back almost immediately. He knew that she felt the same way.

She had dreamt about his, many nights when she would lie alone in her bedroom just remembering all those memories they had when they were together. She captured and recaptured his mouth and, slowly, they moved towards the chairs of the living room. She straddled him gently, leaving a less than modest space between their hips. Then she twined a hand in his hair and pulled him to her.