Captured By A Dragon

Chapter Eight: Confrontation

As Ginny sat in the Great Hall on Wednesday morning, eating her breakfast at the Gryffindor table, she couldn't help but notice that at the other side of the Great Hall at the Slytherin Table, Draco was looking very odd indeed.

He was usually either chatting with Blaise Zabini or showing off something he got from his mother and father back at home, but today was different. Draco was looking pale and was playing carelessly with his fork instead of eating his food.

Ginny was wondering what was wrong with him, and that maybe the stupid rumors Blanc had spread caused him to be emotionally stressed or something. No, that couldn't be it. Draco Malfoy, emotionally stressed? It had to be something else.

Right when Ginny was about to take another bite of her eggs, the Great Hall doors opened. She turned and looked to see who it was, and wasn't surprised to see Harry and Cho, hand in hand, talking animatedly.

Over the first week, Ginny always saw Harry and Cho together, and Harry was usually carrying her book bag. Yes, what a gentleman. Whenever Ginny saw them, she had to turn away. It wasn't that she was jealous; it was that she was... pissed off was more like it.

Ginny scowled to herself and went back to her breakfast, feeling that today was not the day she wanted to get angry. Harry and Cho disconnected, and Ginny was not aware that Harry was looking right down at her.

"Hey," Harry said, making Ginny drop her fork with a clatter. She did not respond.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" he asked. Ginny laughed bitterly.

"Yes," she replied loutishly, not even looking at him. She picked up her fork again and started eating, hoping that maybe Harry would go away. Harry did not seem to hear her, though, and he sat down to her right.

"Am I allowed to talk to you?"

"No."

Plain and simple. Ginny didn't want to go into having a conversation with Harry at the moment, especially when she was feeling particularly murderous against him.

"You have to speak to me someday," he told her, looking down at his hands.

"And why should I, Harry?" she asked, turning to him with a fake grin plastered on her face. "Because we're such good friends and we talk all the time?"

Harry looked at her with his eyebrows pinned together.

"Why are you acting so rude to me lately? What did I ever do to offend you so much? I mean, you're not even talking to Ron or Hermione, and I'm hearing all these things which I know aren't true -"

"And how do you know if they're true or not?" Ginny interrupted, looking at Harry devilishly with an arched eyebrow. "How well do you know me anyway, Harry? What, are we buddies now?"

Harry frowned.

"Ginny, you know what I mean," he said tonelessly.

"Sorry, I'm an idiot; I don't think you should talk to me. Wouldn't want to ruin your reputation now, eh?" she said to him.

With that, Ginny took one more bite of her eggs and left the Great Hall. What she didn't know was that Harry got up too and was following her.

"Ginny, stop!" Harry yelled, and he took her shoulder and pinned her to the wall.

"Get off of me!" exclaimed Ginny, trying to push Harry away. Harry was too strong though, and he held her back with his arm.

"Listen, I want - stay still! - I want you to talk to me, Ginny. Please, come on. What's holding you back?" he said.

"Your arm!" Ginny shouted, still fighting to get away. Harry didn't remove his arm.

"Come on, all I want to know is what's wrong!" he bellowed, making Ginny snap her eyes shut. Suddenly, she stopped struggling.

"What makes you think I have a problem, anyway? You can't help. You wouldn't even know if I didn't explain the story, which is way too long, so just let me go!" she shrieked, and she started to try to get away again.

"All I want to know is why you won't talk to me!" Harry screeched at her.

"You never talk to me! What makes you think I'd want to talk to you now?" Ginny yelled at him furiously.

Harry sighed, obviously trying to think.

"I don't know. Maybe I care, unlike you who just blames the whole world for everything. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what I'm trying to do. Maybe it's like Cho said -"

"Who cares about what Cho said?! She's just a low-life, pathetic little -"

"Don't you talk about my girlfriend in that way!" Harry roared, even louder than usual. Ginny laughed resentfully.

"Yes, Cho is all the world to you. Everyone bow down to Cho Chang, queen of all that lives."

"What do you have against Cho, anyway? Are you jealous or something?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowed.

"NO! I told you, Cho is nothing to me! She's nothing, all right? Why don't you get that through your button-sized brain?" Ginny yelled loudly.

"Well it certainly seems like you're jealous," said Harry. "Don't you have anybody else you like?"

"What do you mean, 'anybody else'?" Ginny said heatedly, looking at Harry with dark eyes, unlike her light brown ones.

"Come on, Ginny, I know you've liked me for years," muttered Harry, chuckling softly. "It's not too hard to notice. You used to always follow me around; you never left me alone."

"Hey, why don't you look at what you just said?" Ginny whispered sarcastically, her head to one side. Suddenly she started shouting. "I USED TO! PAST TENSE! DIDN'T YOU EVER TAKE ENGLISH, YOU MORON?"

"Calm down, Gin, I bet everyone in the Great Hall heard that -"

"You're not licensed to call me Gin! Only Ron can, and I don't think you're him, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be going now!"

With all her might, Ginny pushed Harry away and started running. But, of course, since Harry is so good at running, he caught up to her and jumped in front of her, not letting her take anymore steps.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong with you!" he said shrilly.

"Do you want me to see a therapist or something?" said Ginny, rolling her eyes. She put her hands on her hips. "Honestly, Harry, you expect me to come running to you every time you think I have a problem? Even if I had one, so what? It's none of your business anyway! Now move!"

Harry didn't move. Ginny sighed heavily, thinking of what to do next.

"Don't make me do something drastic, Harry, you wouldn't want that. Believe me, Ron has had experience," she told him.

"If I can take on Voldemort, I can certainly take on you. Go ahead; try me, Ginny," Harry said stupidly.

"Okay," said Ginny. And, surprisingly leaving her wand in her pocket, and before Harry could move, she went up to him and kicked him... where it hurts.

Almost immediately, Harry yelped in agony and fell to the ground, groaning. Ginny smiled at him and looked down at him. "Well... You-Know-Who can't be worse than that, can he?" she told him, giggling quietly.

"G-ginnnnnnyy!!!" Harry cried.

"Goodbye," said Ginny, and she walked off, still laughing uncontrollably. Served him right, the stupid git.

&&&&&&&&&&

Draco was sitting in the Great Hall when he heard a loud and girlish scream in the distance.

"What was that?" he asked a girl who was sitting beside him. She looked at him with droopy eyes.

"How the hell should I know?" she said.

Draco rolled his eyes and got up from the Slytherin table, only to find that Blanc was standing right in front of him.

"What do you want?" he asked coldly.

"I need to talk to you. Let's go outside," she said.

Draco reluctantly followed Blanc outside and sat down on a bench looking up at the light sky. She had better hurry, his first class was going to start in about fifteen minutes and he still needed to get his things.

"Listen, I know zat last night did not go well, but..."

"But what? Do you expect me to fall over for you or something?" Draco told her. "Okay listen, you're - pretty and all, but you don't just kiss a guy." At this, he laughed. "You have to be my girlfriend to do that, and as of right now, I am completely girlfriend-free," he said coolly.

"Well zen we can become boyfriend and girlfriend!" she said excitedly, taking his hand.

Draco pulled his hand away. "That's not the way it works - uh - what was your name again?"

Blanc glared at him, and all of the sudden her eyes turned literally red.

"It's Blanc," she muttered in fury.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Draco asked confusedly. Blanc's eyes turned back to sea green, and she tucked a strand of her radiant brown hair behind one of her ears.

"Sorry... I must go now," she said, and Draco saw tears falling down from her face. Blanc got up hurriedly and ran off, crying hysterically into her hands.

For the second time in a day already, Draco rolled his eyes once again.