Captured By A Dragon

Chapter Three: The Animosity And The Alibis

Ginny's mouth dropped dramatically, her eyes so wide they resembled white snitches. Draco Malfoy, out of all people, was the first boy to ever tell her that she was beautiful.

&&&&&&&&&&

Wait a second. Wait a bloody second. What did he just say?

Draco roughly blinked his eyes, praying that this was some kind of horrific dream. Did he... did he just... did he say...?

Realizing what he had just done, Draco started rambling. "Woah, Weasley, that came out all wrong!" he yelled frantically. "I didn't mean that, I don't know what I was saying, did you...? Did I -? What did -? Uh. Oh. Hm. Well, 'bye."

Carefully avoiding her eyes, Draco swept past her, walking with unusually long strides, not looking back. All Ginny did was stare at him all the way up to the castle, taking in what had just happened. Why he would say such a thing and then tell her that he didn't mean it...?

&&&&&&&&&&

It was nearly midnight. Ginny was sitting in the common room, her mind working at a rather fast pace. For some reason she just couldn't stop thinking about Malfoy... it was really very strange, the whole ordeal. In two days they had talked three times, that was definitely saying something. What was it about him? God, his eyes. They were so... blank. They were like dark, endless cave; empty and pitch black. Perhaps there was a treasure inside... perhaps...

Ginny looked down at the table in front of her, sighing deeply. Her homework lay in a huge pile in front of her, practically calling her name. Snape set an essay on them (the 2nd day of school, no less!) about the elements of gillyweed and its effects. Not to mention that their temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, none other than Professor Tonks ("Please, Ginny," she had said the 1st day of school, "Don't call me professor. I'm only here for a little while. Besides, it makes me feel older than a basilisk."), assigned them with practicing complicated counterjinxes.

Wondering how to get the essay done (she could practice the counterjinxes another time), she suddenly had a harmless idea. Perhaps going to the library to borrow Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean would prove to be helpful. She had no time whatsoever to do it tomorrow, so she might as well go now.

But it was well after midnight... how would she get there unseen?

Harry had an Invisibility Cloak... she could go into his dormitory and use it, just this once. He wouldn't mind...

Getting quickly up from the couch, she snuck up quietly into the 7th year boy's dormitories. She silently thanked the Hogwarts four for trusting girls more than boys.

When she opened the door, Neville's snoring reached her ears and she stifled a laugh. Now, where was Harry's bed? Ah, there it was. His curtains had been left open; she could see him in a rather strange sleeping position, mumbling something. She tiptoed to his bed and saw his trunk sticking out from under it.

Pulling it out from the bed as quietly as she could, she opened it with a click that sounded throughout the dormitory. She looked around with a fearful face, praying that she had not woken anyone up, but the only movements were from Seamus, who merely twitched his leg, and Harry, who had turned to the other side of his bed. His and Ginny's faces were now a foot away from each other.

Letting out a low breath of relief, she began rummaging throughout his trunk. She snickered a little when she made contact with his underwear, but then saw the silvery material and made a snatch at it. Not even bothering to close the trunk, she stood up and took one last look at Harry, whose mumbling was now more pronounced. Ginny could only make out one tiny word:

"Cho."

Ginny's face turned into a scowl and now wondered whether she should keep the cloak for a few weeks and let him panic. The thought of him scrunching his hair in frustration made Ginny grin slightly.

Ron sniffed. Ginny remembered she was still in their dormitory, and, not wanting Ron to catch her stealing (no, no, it was borrowing) Harry's Invisibility Cloak, she dashed out of the door, down the stairs, and was back in the common room.

That was a close one, Ginny thought as she draped the cloak around her and opened the portrait into a very dark Hogwarts.

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Fifteen minutes later, Ginny, under the Invisibility Cloak, was walking through the Hogwarts corridors, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of movement, her ears alert for any fall of footsteps. She had to be nearly there... just a couple more corridors to go through...

Suddenly, as Ginny was passing several bodies of armor, there was a clang of metal to her left, where she saw a small corridor that lead to the Great Hall.

"OW!" a low voice hissed. Ginny gasped and took out her wand.

"Who's there?" she asked nervously, taking a few cautious steps. She took off the Invisibility Cloak slowly and hung it on her arm.

Someone was muttering to himself, apparently still hurting from the body of armor he had hit. The vague silhouette of a tall boy with broad shoulders was coming toward her.

"Malfoy?" she said incredulously. "Is that you?"

Out of the shadows, Draco Malfoy came strolling up to Ginny, who frowned and put away her wand.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. They just kept running into each other, it seemed. Ginny was getting quite bothered by it; it was actually kind of creepy. Draco laughed quietly, his face still barely recognizable in the dark.

"I should be asking you the same thing," he said pompously. When Ginny said nothing, he continued. "I was going to the kitchens to get a midnight snack. I didn't have time to eat dinner."

"What were you doing?" she said. "Worshipping the Dark Lord in an evil sanctuary?"

Ginny distinctly saw the smirk on Draco's smirk slip off in an instant.

"I didn't feel like it," he said, getting slightly louder. "Now, I would like to know what you're doing down here. Going to a H.P.F.C. meeting?" He then had a look of fake confusion. "I didn't know they held them this late," he said in a high-pitched voice. His hand was on his chest, making him look like a mother who thought her son's Quidditch match had started an hour and a half after it really did.

"What in the world is H.P.F.C?" said Ginny, her hands on her hips defiantly.

"Why, the Harry Potter Fan Club, of course," Draco told her. His eyes were now dancing with amusement. Neither of them saw that a furry something had just streaked by their legs then turned the corner.

"Harry Potter Fan Club? You've got to be joking me," Ginny chortled, but inside, she was fuming. Draco was talking about Harry again. All she wanted to do was give him a good poke in the forehead, just to see what his reaction was.

"What, ashamed that you're in love with him?" his malicious voice was now back to normal. "I would be too, you know. Especially since he says his own personal stalker looks like she hasn't showered in days -"

Ginny had had enough. The last few words set her off like nothing before; he knew that that had made her upset. Now he was just pushing her buttons. She walked up briskly to Draco and slapped him hard across the face, the sound of hand against cheek resounding throughout the long hallway. After she did, all of the anger that had mounted earlier that day seemed to leak out of her.

Draco staggered backward. His hand clasped his left cheek, where she had slapped it, and he glared at Ginny.

"You little -"

"Don't you ever say I'm obsessed with that bloody bastard!" Ginny yelled, absolutely forgetting that they were both out of bed. Draco didn't remember it, either.

"Bloody bastard? You used to be in love with him!" shouted Draco, even louder than Ginny. They were closer now; they had taken steps toward each other, both of them somehow trying to seem taller than the other in an attempt to look more superior.

At Draco's words, Ginny laughed in a sinister way. In love with Harry?

"One day, Malfoy, you are really going to get yourself beaten up by a girl. I can already see it happening."

"Ooh, I'm really scared."

"Yeah, well, you should be."

"I just said I am."

"I know you did."

"I know you know I did."

"Well fine."

"Well fine."

Draco grimaced in frustration, thinking of what else he could possibly say to make her just a little angrier, when, all of the sudden, making both Ginny and Draco jump, a croaky voice met their ears.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

It was Filch. Mrs. Norris was pacing in front of his ankles, looking pleased with herself. Filch's wide grin was twitching with obvious delight.

"Oo, students out of bed, I see," he said hoarsely. He eyed both of them with beady eyes, and Draco and Ginny looked warily at each other. "We'll go to Dumbledore for this one," he finally cackled, and he began leading them down a different corridor.

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Ginny and Draco were sitting silently in two large chairs, which were in front of Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore himself was looking out of the window, starring blankly at the Hogwarts grounds. He seemed to be in deep thought, though they couldn't even begin to wonder what he was thinking about.

After about another minute of hearing nothing but the portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses mumbling in their sleep, Dumbledore went to his desk and sat down, looking at Ginny and Draco in an empty gaze. Ginny swallowed loudly, afraid of what was about to come.

"I would like to know that amusing explanations of why the two of you were out of bed at this hour," Dumbledore said in a rather soft and soothing voice. Almost at once, Ginny and Draco broke out into alibis.

"It was all her fault, professor -"

"You see, I needed a book-"

"I was just going to get some food -"

"We just ran into each other on accident -"

"She should get detention, not me -"

"He started yelling, I couldn't stop him-"

Grinning slightly, Dumbledore put up a hand to silence them, and the two hushed almost immediately. "I believe," he said, observing them equally, "that both of you should be punished, seeing as both of you were out of bed, no matter who happened to be yelling or not."

Ginny and Draco did not move or say anything, but both seemed to be holding their breaths, waiting to hear their punishment. Ginny could see the famous twinkle flash in Dumbledore's eyes.

"Which is why you will both be serving detention together for two weeks."

Draco then sat up so fast that for a second, Ginny thought that he had been sitting on something extremely sharp.

"WHAT?" he exclaimed loudly. He shot a death glare at Ginny, who looked just as stunned as he did.

"Please say you're joking," she said, her voice shaky. She had never gotten a detention before, and now she was getting a two weeks' worth of them for something she didn't even start!

"I would like to, Miss Weasley, but under these circumstances..." said Dumbledore, his sentence trailing off throughout the large office.

Draco sat back in his chair, sighing heavily.

"You will only be serving three detentions a week with one another," Dumbledore told them. "You will start next week, not this week, and the detentions will be served at 8:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. in the Charms classroom. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday."

"What do we have to do?" ask Ginny in slight mutter. "Lines?"

"You will simply sit," said Dumbledore. "And talk."

Draco sighed once again. Lines would have been better, he thought.

Ginny, who was trying very hard not to stand up and start shouting, could feel the animosity practically running through her veins. This was all Malfoy's fault; Ginny was completely innocent. Dumbledore didn't even let her explain. All she wanted was the book for Snape's essay. She probably could have been almost finished by now if it weren't for the bloody Ferret.

"Now, I suggest you two get to your dormitories for a good night's sleep," said Dumbledore softly. His eyes averted over to Ginny's, and he smiled. "Mr. Potter will be wanting his cloak back."

Ginny merely half-grinned back, feeling much too furious to even fake a smile. She got out of her chair and walked out of Dumbledore's office, Draco right beside her. Once they got into the corridor, and the gargoyle statue sprang back into place, Draco whipped his head toward her.

"If you hadn't have gotten out of bed to go to your stupid H.P.F.C meeting," he hissed, "None of this would have happened."

Ginny let out a frustrated groan and said, "I was going to the library, for Merlin's sake, Malfoy. I needed a book to help me with an essay that happens to be due tomorrow! And the professor that just happened to assign it is Snape, who's bound to skin me when he knows I didn't do it!"

Draco merely chuckled. "You were going to the library. Right."

Ginny looked over at him with glowering eyes.

"Half of this is your fault too, you know," she told him, still walking. "If you hadn't have gotten up for a bloody 'midnight snack', then I would most likely be asleep in my dormitory by now."

Draco shook his head, smirking. "You could have easily skipped breakfast to go to the library. Why didn't you just wait until morning to do the essay?" he said.

Ginny stopped walking and turned to him. Draco did this as well, raising an eyebrow at her, wondering why she had suddenly halted in the middle of the hall.

"Why did you say I looked beautiful and then denied it?" she asked with an evil glimmer in her eye. Ginny distinctly heard Draco swallow, but then, to cover it up, he laughed at her.

"Haven't you ever heard of sarcasm?" he said, starting to walk again. Ginny started to walk as well, feeling breathless. She had been dying to get this out of Malfoy the second he had confronted her near the library.

"Yes," she said breathlessly, "but I know you weren't using it."

Draco swallowed again; Ginny knew she had caught him. Draco knew he couldn't avoid the subject forever... but his stubbornness caught up with him, and he looked over at her, smiling.

"Why, have a sixth sense?" he asked.

Ginny frowned, unimpressed by the way he thought this was all a big joke. "Fine, you can pretend you were being sarcastic," she told him, rather smugly. "But believe me, Malfoy, you don't want to go there."

With that, Ginny turned, and sped off to Gryffindor Tower, a wide grin spread across her face.