The Soul Keeper

Chapter 5: Food fight!

After Ginny had parted ways with Draco, she quickly made her way into the Great Hall, lips still split in a wide grin of triumph. She had finally gotten the better of Draco Malfoy. At least for a while, before he planned any revenge. In the back part of her mind, she still hoped that maybe he´d change his mind, and decide to tell her what was going on, but if he didn´t, she planned on finding out herself. She was determined to help him, she couldn´t think of anyone else who would. And though it might not be obvious to him, she could tell that he would need it. Besides, maybe if she helped him with something, they could be friends.

Or more,

a tiny voice in the back of her brain taunted her. But Ginny quickly silenced it, appalled that she was thinking like that about a boy- any boy- but especially that one.

As she walked through the doors, she was surprised to find that most of the students were still there, eating breakfast as always. She must not have been as late as she thought. Looking towards the Gryffindor table, she was also a little relieved to be able to number Ron, Hermione, and Harry as three of the students still remaining. At least she wouldn´t have to sit by herself.

The four of them might not be great friends, and she might still consider herself an "outsider" in the little group they had formed, but at least the three of them were always there to try to make her feel like she fit in.

Ron chose that moment to look up from the table and spotted her instantly. He waved her over, and she saw the concerned look that she had dreaded seeing that morning. Oh well, she´d have to face him sometime, she supposed.

She waved back, smiling reassuringly back at Hermione, who looked a little apprehensive about the conversation she knew was coming. This seemed to relieve the older girl a bit, for she turned back around in her seat, and began whispering something to Harry, who listened intently.

Wonder what that was all about.

When Ginny sat down at the table beside her brother -they had saved her a seat- she was surprised to see Harry give her an encouraging look. Obviously Hermione had been telling him that a potentially sticky situation was coming up.

Both Harry and Hermione knew how much Ginny sometimes resented Ron´s over-protection, and neither of them wanted to see a fight break out between the two siblings.

"Good morning," Ginny greeted them as she sat down, determined not say anything unless Ron asked first.

He did.

"Are you sure your okay, Ginny?"

Here it comes.

"I know Hermione talked to you, but if something is wrong, you really ought to tell me, or at least tell Hermione, if it´s something like...that."

Surprisingly, Ginny found that she was more amused at Ron´s discomfort, which he was plainly showing by now, instead of being angry. She had thought that his prodding into her life would have made her mad, and it did, a little. But nothing could really knock her out of the high spirit that getting the better of Malfoy had put her in.

She decided to have a little fun with Ron instead. Eyes sparkling, she shot an evil grin at Hermione and Harry before sending her brother an innocent look. "What do you mean, something like that?"

Ron was blushing right to the roots of his flaming red hair now, immensely embarrassed. "You know what I mean, Gin. Something like...like-"

Ginny gave in, unable to keep from feeling sorry for her brother, as he was so clearly uncomfortable with the subject. "I know what you mean, Ron, and if anything was wrong, you know I´d tell you about it." She smiled at him, and patted his arm reassuringly before she added, "But since it´s not, maybe you should finish your breakfast. You can have this too if you want."

Ginny tossed a piece of bacon his way, laughing along with Harry and Hermione when it missed his plate and landed in his lap. "Oops, sorry," she told him, not sounding very sorry at all.

Ron looked down at the piece of greasy bacon lying in his lap, then back up at Ginny. "You bet oops," he told her. "You´re going to pay for that, you little worm," he teased as he threw a biscuit at her.

Ginny dodged, laughing as she did so. All the thoughts about Draco that had been bothering her evaporated from her mind like water from a desert. It had been so long since she and Ron had fooled around like this. It made her realize how much she missed it.

She was trying to think of some way to get him back for the biscuit, when she heard a familiar voice from down the table.

"Are you two having a food fight?" Dean Thomas called out. He sounded excited at the prospect, and was shooting mischievous looks at Seamus Finnigan. Ever since Fred and George left, the two seventh years had seemed to take it upon themselves to follow in their footsteps. So far, they had managed very well.

"Of course they aren´t," Hermione said quickly, shooting a nervous glance towards the teacher´s table. The last thing they needed was to get in trouble for throwing food. She turned to Ron and Ginny. "You´re not, are you?" she added as an afterthought, with a look that clearly said, `don´t you dare.´

Whatever their reply might have been, they never got the chance to answer her. The words "food fight" had spread down the table like wildfire, mainly thanks to the un-honorable efforts of Seamus and Dean, who were looking very pleased with themselves. And that was all it took. From there, the idea was spread to the rest of the houses and was being taken up.

Ginny watched with wide eyes as several students stood up and began hurling food towards some of their friends.

It wasn´t long before the whole Hall was on their feet, food in hand.

Ginny swung back around in her seat, exchanging bewildered and slightly guilty looks with Ron. In a way, they were the one´s who had started the whole thing.

That was when the food began to fly, and Ginny was unable to think about anything else. It wasn´t long before she, and everyone else at the table except Hermione- who seemed capable by sheer willpower to stay untouched- was covered in food.

Wiping ketchup off her face, Ginny glanced uncertainly at Hermione, who had gone a horrible shade of red, and looked as if she could have strangled both Ginny and Ron without a second thought.

"Now look what you´ve done!" she hissed, gesturing unnecessarily towards the food flying around them.

"It wasn´t their fau-" Harry began, trying valiantly not to laugh, while at the same time cringing at the look on Hermione´s face. He shut his mouth and hastily began a hopeless effort to clean his glasses, which were now covered in eggs.

"We´re going to be in so much tro-" Hermione completely ignored him, before she was stopped quite suddenly in mid-sentence as a syrup-covered waffle landed in her hair.

Ginny watched in amazed fascination as Hermione jumped to her feet. She could almost hear Hemione thinking, alright, that´s it. "Who threw that?" the seventh year called to everyone in general.

No one paid her the slightest bit of attention. Annoyed, Hermione, grabbed her own handfuls of food from her plate and began throwing them at anyone in sight.

Taken completely by surprise, Harry, Ginny and Ron stared up at Hermione, incredulous.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron asked, speaking for them all.

"Well," Hermione said smartly, looking less angry and more playful now that she´d joined the fray. "What´s the use of being in the middle of a food fight if you don´t throw food?"

All three of them sat, stunned into silence for a second. Suddenly Ginny realized that ever since she had started dating Ron, Hermione had lightened up a bit, and seemed to be loosing some of the 'all work, no play' attitude she´d had before. Ginny could definitely get used to her this way. She felt closer to Hermione than she had in years.

Harry and Ron obviously felt the same way, because they glanced at Ginny and all three exchanged delighted grins. This was the chance they had been waiting for.

"Bloody good point!" Ron exclaimed as they all got to their feet.

Ginny grabbed the untouched piece of sausage from her plate and smiled wickedly. "Hey, Harry."

"Huh?" Harry had been watching Ron, but he turned her attention to Ginny when she called.

"Think fast!" she yelled as she hurled the sausage his way.

All those years of Quidditch must have caused Harry to have very quick reflexes, because, although he was only just across the table from her, he managed to duck right in time.

"Darn it," Ginny muttered, feigning disappointment, as Harry stood up, completely sausage free.

This was fun. More fun than she´d had in a long time, in fact. It was one of those rare moments when she actually felt like she belonged there, and that Harry and Hermione weren´t just nice to her because she was Ron´s little sister.

"Missed me," Harry teased playfully, but Ginny didn´t hear him.

She was too busy watching the doors of the Great Hall swing open slightly, and was suddenly overcome with a feeling of apprehension. She found out why when she saw the person who stepped through the door.

Draco.

She had just had time to register the fact that it was him when a slice of sausage hit him promptly in the face.

Ginny´s eyes widened, and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. She had just unintentionally hit Draco Malfoy in the face with sausage, and from the look on his face, he was furious.

Ginny tried unsuccessfully to control her laughter, but it was no use. It just kept coming.

That is, until Draco turned his head and looked right at her.

******************

After Draco had succeeded in removing the grease from his face with the edge of his cloak, he looked around hastily for the culprit, anger showing plainly on his features. Anyone with a shred of sense would have cringed inwardly and tried to keep as far away from him as possible after seeing that look.

At first he saw no one, but then one of the students moved unknowingly to the side, and he found himself staring right into Ginny Weasley´s surprised eyes.

Now I know who threw the sausage.

Looking at her, Draco suddenly realized he had never actually seen her eyes. He knew they were brown, he´d met them often enough in some of the glaring contests they´d been having lately, but he had never before noticed how potent they could be. He felt like if he looked into them long enough he would drown. Very strange.

Ginny for her part, was standing there, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world, a guilty expression plastered across her face, obvious to any who cared to look, no matter how badly she tried to hide it.

Draco was about to give her one of his best glares, when he saw her mouth start to open, close, and then open again, almost hesitatingly mouthing the word "sorry".

The bad thing was, she actually looked sincere about it too, even if there was still a spark of laughter in her eyes.

Well, after that, he couldn´t seem to be able to muster deadly look he had been going for. It just wouldn´t come.

So instead, he decided to ignore her, pretend she didn´t exist. That would probably get under her skin better than a death glare anyway, considering she´d already been the victim of several of the best glowers he possessed, and they didn´t seem to phase her a bit.

Ignoring her turned up being fairly easy, considering the loud, angry yelling that had just begun somewhere off to his left and was very distracting.

Breaking eye-contact with her- a task in itself- Draco turned his gaze in the direction of the yelling, towards the high table.

Severus Snape was standing there, covered in something Draco was positive had to be pancakes, yelling at the students in general, apparently trying to get their attention.

The only problem was, everyone was ignoring him. Completely.

"Sit down and stop this nonsense this instant!" Draco heard Snape bellow uselessly.

As Draco watched, not one student so much as turned their head or gave the slightest inclination that they had heard him.

Yeah, that worked.

Draco rolled his eyes. The Potions Professor was already red in the face; whether from yelling, or from anger, Draco wasn´t sure.

When would he give it up already? Couldn´t he see that he was having absolutely no effect on anybody?

Of course, Draco figured he might be pretty mad too if some obnoxious student had covered him in food...

Wait a sec, one already did,

the thought flashed through his head. Oh, alright, she hadn´t covered him in sausage. But still.

Shaking his head, he realized that Snape was still shouting, and his red coloring had now began to change to a sickening green color. What was wrong with him? It was very unusual for Snape to lose his self control, Draco knew that first hand. But he had obviously lost it now. There was nothing Severus Snape hated more than to be ignored or laughed at. And the few students who had finally noticed him were doing both.

If Draco hadn´t known how much Snape would despise it, he probably would have felt a little sorry for his Professor. But since he did, he decided he had probably better get him to be quite before he burst a blood vessel or something.

He had just started walking that way when a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Shifting his gaze, he saw that while all the other teachers had long since deserted the Great Hall, presumably in favor of a room where food was not flying around and splattering on people, Dumbledore was still there, covered as he was from head to foot in- you name it, he was wearing it.

What surprised Draco the most, was that the Headmaster actually seemed to be enjoying himself. There was a smile on his face, and Draco would have sworn that he looked positively merry.

Shaking his head in disbelief, he stopped walking as he saw that Dumbledore was rising from his seat, heading for the distressed Potions Master. Dumbledore would make Snape calm down.

As he stood there, he decided that he was very lucky not to be covered in food as well yet, and that he had better not taking any chances if he didn´t want to ruin his cloak. His mother wouldn´t be very pleased with him if he did; it had been a birthday present.

He took up an observing stance against the wall; leaning back slightly, arms crossed, face unreadable.

Dumbledore had finally managed to get Snape to be quiet, and the Professor now looked a little shocked by his own outburst. Draco saw him slowly wipe his wet brow, take a deep breath, and then stride quickly out of the room, probably to get some rest; at Dumbledore´s suggestion, of course.

He was just starting to wonder what was going to happen next when the Headmaster walked back to the front of the room, head held high in a strict pose, but eyes sparkling amusedly.

"I was going to announce something of what I´m sure would be of great interest to you all, but given the current...circumstances, I believe it will be best to wait until lunch."

This single sentence had a more profound effect on all the students than any of Snape´s shouted threats or insults could have. After Dumbledore spoke, complete silence fell across the hall and everyone looked on expectantly, hoping he would reveal more of what he had planned to tell them.

When he didn´t, frenzied whispers broke out, each person trying to find out if his or her friends knew anything more than what had just been said. No one did.

Even Draco was surprised by the announcement. He racked his brain, trying to come up with some sort of explanation, but nothing came to mind. Nothing creditable anyway.

Suddenly, he felt a strange creeping sensation on the side of his neck. The feeling you get when someone is watching you. Turning his head swiftly, he saw the flash of red hair and it´s owner.

Ginny was giving him a questioning look her eyebrows raised as if to say, "know anything?"

Draco almost shook his head in answer, but remembered just in time that he was supposed to be ignoring her. He turned away, looking back over at Dumbledore, who hadn´t moved from his spot.

A few seconds later, Draco saw the man raise his hands in a "quiet down" motion as he claimed everybody´s full attention once again.

"Now that you´ve all had your fun, and I´ve effectively managed to end this "food fight" it is time for the hard part." He paused, casting an appraising glance over all the students, and Draco unconsciously shrank back a little when Dumbledore´s piercing gaze reached him.

After a few more seconds, in which every student waited apprehensively, knowing that the Headmaster had more to say, and it probably wasn´t going to be to their liking, Dumbledore continued.

"Every student involved will stay and help with the clean up of the Great Hall. This is the perfect opportunity to give the house elves a well deserved break."

There was a collective groan from the most of the student body, but not much more. They all knew that helping clean up the mess was only fair, considering they had been the ones who made it.

Draco however, was not planning on sticking around to help. He hadn´t technically been "involved". He hadn´t thrown anything.

Just as he was heading for the door, moving slowly and inconspicuously, he felt the unfamiliar touch of a warm hand on his arm, and he looked back around, to be caught once more in the seas of melted chocolate that were Ginny´s eyes.

He was going to jerk his arm harshly away from her hands-he meant to, he really did- but he found himself pulling away more slowly than he had intended. It had been a strange sensation, the feel of her fingers on his arm, but not necessarily an unpleasant one.

The absurdity of this thought stopped him from sinking further into her gaze, and he purposely kept his arms clenched tightly to his side.

Ginny, however, didn´t seem to notice his reaction at all. Indeed, she was staring at him with a look bordering between anger and indignity.

Or was it both?

"What?" he threw out innocently, knowing that the chances of him getting away without talking to her were slim to none. She could be very stubborn when she wished.

"Thought you were ignoring me?" She said cryptically.

"Yes, well, that´s kind of hard to do when you grab my arm and I have to look at you." He kept the, "and when you look at me like that" part to himself.

Ginny seemed to ponder this answer before nodding. "Do you know what Dumbledore was talking about? I´ve asked almost everyone else, but no one seems to know."

"Then what makes you think I do?" Draco replied, his eyebrows quirking slightly in a superior way.

"Never mind!" Ginny spat out angrily. "Excuse me for failing to use common sense and attempting yet again to have a civilized conversation with you. I´m so sorry." More angry with herself than at him, Ginny started to walk away. She should have known that that was how he would react. All arrogance and sarcasm; typical Draco.

She decided she was pretty stupid to have thought that things would change that much because of one smile in a lousy dungeon. Heck, the only reason it had probably even happened was because Draco was extremely stressed over the whole cleaning thing.

She had hoped that something might have changed. For some reason, she had found herself wishing that it would. But it was obvious now that it hadn´t, and that it most likely wouldn´t. She had been very stupid to think otherwise. Ginny suddenly found herself very close to tears, which succeeded in making her more angry and frustrated at herself. She didn´t know what was wrong with her. Sure, she cared about him, but not this much. At least, she hadn´t thought so. The only other boy who had ever driven her to tears was Harry, and- no, she was not even going to go there. It wasn´t worth thinking about.

Before she had very much more time to wallow in self-pity and strangle herself, she felt a light, hesitant touch on her shoulder.

Stunned, she stood totally still for a moment, not even turning around. Not daring to hope that it might have been him.

She stood that way for at least of minute, not moving, hardly even breathing. Her stomach was fluttering crazily in her stomach, and she wondered again what was wrong with her. Was she going crazy? It wasn´t like he even liked her or anything...

Finally, she could stand it no longer, and with the air of someone about to either meet her death or see victory, she turned around to look.

There was no one there.