Two Mortal Hours

She woke up as he leant over her, searching for his watch on the drawer next to the bed. When he realised that she had awoken, he simply gazed at her for some time before he finally managed to find what he was looking for. His indifferent facial expression was then replaced with a look of horror, and she took the watch out of his hands.

"What - no!" Ginny cried and pushed him away, and attempted to jump out of the bed and keep the quilt safely wrapped around herself at the same time. The attempt failed miserably, and the result was that she fell to the floor with a loud thump. The floor was made out of stone - or concrete, she was not entirely sure, it was cold and hard - and it bruised her elbows.

"Weasley," Draco drawled, with obvious laughter in his voice. "Now, seriously, that was the most ridiculous scene I have ever seen."

"It was hardly as elegant as I planned it to be," Ginny hissed back, and managed to get on her feet. The quilt kept falling off her, and she desperately hugged it close to her body, glaring at the amused Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "It's not like I haven't seen all that before -"

"When it was dark!"

"When it was - " Draco raised an eyebrow. "Really, Weasley, it wasn't that dark."

"It was dark!" she snarled, and his face broke into a smirk, before he drew a hand through his hair.

"I see," he said. "No matter if it was dark - or not - we're late."

"Yes, and it's entirely your fault." She raised her chin as if she was challenging him, but he was in a dull mood, and his only reply was to roll his eyes. Ginny began collecting her clothes, and as the room was windowless, the only light was from a candle on the top of the drawer. No wonder she had overslept. Nothing except the clock implied that the time was anywhere close to noon. "Why are there no windows in this room?" she asked him, and he looked up as he was trying to button up his shirt.

"Why? Because we're under a great lake, Weasley, and besides what would you see? Mermaids? Fishes?" He did a wicked grin. "The giant squid?"

"No, I mean," Ginny said quickly as she put on her skirt, glancing desperately on the watch, "this is Hogwarts, like the centre of magic or whatever. Surely it couldn't have been that hard to conjure a window?"

"Surely not," he replied dully and walked over to a mirror next to the bed. He scowled by his reflection, and began an attempt on saving his hairdo. Ginny was in search of her second sock, and found it eventually underneath the bed. She crawled back from under the bed, and pulled it on, while she was trying to find her tie. Her eyes travelled to the watch again, and she did a cry.

"Oh, we're so late, so... so late." She fetched a tie that lied on the floor underneath her quilt, and began tying it while she walked out of the room.

The Slytherin common- room was deserted, and Ginny was relieved to see so. She ran quickly across the floor while putting her jumper on, before she left the common- room and jogged through the dungeons. She only assumed Draco was quite close behind her, but she didn't bother to turn around and see for herself. Her only goal was to get to the Great Hall in time to witness the House Cup being given to Gryffindor.

Ginny's hopes on opening the door to the Great Hall soundlessly was shattered as the huge wooden door gave a loud creak and the entire hall turned around to see her entrance. She smiled shyly and blushed violently as she walked down the hallway in quick steps, searching for an available place. She was a bit taken aback by the Gryffindors as their stares were a bit too harsh, she reckoned. She had, after all, only been a few minutes late.

The only available seat required Ginny to walk to the very end of the table, feeling the hard stare of the professors on her as she was so close to their table that she could nearly touch it. A wave of relief washed over her as she had her back to them, and sat down in between two fellow Gryffindors. Ginny glanced at the wooden door, and frowned as Draco managed to slip in soundlessly and without a fuss.

Across her table, Lavender and Parvati had great difficulties with suppressing giggles. Ginny scowled at them, before she looked up at the professor table, waiting for anyone to speak.

"Ginny," Parvati suddenly hissed. "Ginny!"

"What?" Ginny muttered back, doing her best to ignore her. Her eyes travelled to the Slytherin table, however, where Draco was petting his hair carefully, with a displeased look in his face. Ginny could not see anything wrong with his hair, but apparently he could feel that something was terribly wrong with it.

"What are you doing?" Parvati said in a low voice. She sounded as if she was going to burst out laughing any second, and next to her Lavender was holding both of her hands over her mouth, while her eyes were bulging.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked back, and was hushed down by several students. "What? It's not like somebody's actually talking," Ginny mumbled. She felt Draco's gaze on her, and she was about to return it with a glare, when she realised his expression was amused. And so were the fellow Slytherin students, who were looking at her with expressions of pleasure, amusement and surprise.

Suddenly Ginny felt a pang of anxiousness in her stomach. They knew. They knew. She felt like she would rather die than experiencing this. How could she ever have been that stupid, thinking that Draco Malfoy could actually keep quiet about anything that were juicy gossips? They must have noticed, that they were both missing, and then they arrived at the same time. Ginny felt like throwing something hard at the wall.

"Hey, Weasley!" Draco suddenly called across the hall, and Ginny froze. She stared back at him, terrified and angry at the same time, completely unable of replying or pretending to ignore him. "Rooting for House- collaboration, are you? Where did you get that? Stole it, did you?" A roar of laughter from the Slytherins filled the hall, and Draco smirked. "No surprises there, she's a Weasley, after all, can't afford their own clothes."

Ginny stared blankly at him. He made no sense.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Parvati grinned and leant across the table. Ginny tried to avoid her long fingers, but Parvati caught her collar. She then stretched the tie up in the air, in front of Ginny's eyes.

"But - " Ginny began, but decided not to complete the sentence. The colours are all wrong, she thought, as her eyes stared at the green and silver- striped tie in horror. It was not until then she realised that Draco wore no tie at all, as he had probably seen that the remaining tie in his room was in the colours of Gryffindor.

Her face was not burning, but it was ice- cold and probably most extraordinary pale. Parvati had let go of the tie, and it was resting in Ginny's outstretched hand. Ginny suddenly let go off it as if it had burned her. She tried wildly and unsuccessfully to rip it in pieces, and when it failed, she attempted on pulling it over her head. However, the knot was too hard and her hands were shaking too much, and her eyes began searching the table for anything sharp.

"Perhaps," a calm voice said in her ear, "it would be an easier task if you left the room." Ginny's head snapped to the right and she stared into the eyes of Dean Thomas. Ginny frowned, as she was a bit uncertain if he was implying that it was improper to wear a Slytherin tie and that he wanted her out of his sight, or if he simply suggested that removing a tie while the entire hall was watching was quite stressful.

Ginny slowly slipped off the bench and strode by the wall to the door and opened it. It creaked just as bad as it had when she arrived, but this time she didn't care. She shut the door behind herself with a loud bang, and stomped off to a near by classroom. Ginny went through the cupboards and shelves in search of a scissor or knife. When she found nothing but books, she dropped down on a chair and sighed loudly.

"For fuck's sake, Weasley, you're a bloody witch. Surely you know a spell or two to make that knot loosen up?" Draco was standing in the doorway, looking astonished and amused at the same time. "Or, if you know no such spell," Draco continued, "you could always summon a few scissors."

"Never mind the scissors," Ginny snarled and got up from the chair quickly, "why did you do what you did at the Great Hall? Why did you have to say that and make sure everybody noticed?"

"I found it entertaining," he shrugged.

"Would you have found it entertaining if you had wore a Gryffindor tie?"

"Of course not, Weasley, but that's hardly the point, now is it?" He leaned against the doorframe and nodded once. "Just give it back to me next time." He was about to leave, and she said loudly:

"Next time? What do you mean next time? As if there will be a next time!"

Draco stared at her for some time before he stepped towards her, getting so close he nearly pushed her over before he stopped. He tilted his head to one side, and leaned against her ear, touching her hair with his lips as he did, before he whispered:

"I think we both know there will be a next time, Weasley. Playing hard to get doesn't suit you." He then kissed her neck gently, which gave her Goosebumps all over her body. "And besides, that tie looks good on you, Weasley."

"Rubbish," she said, a bit annoyed with herself for giving in so easily for his soft voice. "Everybody knows I don't look good in silver."

"True," he mumbled against her skin. "I want to see that tie on my bedroom floor within the hour, Weasley."

"You can't," she said with a pleased grin, "firstly because I can't get it off, and second because I must celebrate with the Gryffindors. We won, you know."

"Rub it in, will you?" He had taken a step away from her and was working on the knot. He managed to loosen up the knot within seconds, and tied around his own neck. "Is that a no, then? You know, it's your last chance, I'm not likely to shag a Weasley in my summer vacation."

Ginny merely smiled coyly before she walked pass him and towards the door. She was halfway through it when she turned around and looked at him. His shirt was untidy and so was his hair. It was not until now she realised he did not even wear a jumper.

"Give me three hours," she said firmly, as if she was making a business arrangement.

"I give you one," he drawled, gazing at her.

"Two and a half," she said quickly. He waited a while, weighting his options.

"Two hours," he said slowly, "and I'll let you keep the tie." Ginny opened her mouth as if she was about to protest, but closed it again while she gazed at him with a twinkle in her eye. She wouldn't normally allow him the pleasure of seeing any emotions that would imply she enjoyed his company, so she tried to fight her silly expression with a strict stare, but the attempt failed. Draco, on the other hand, kept his eyes on her and observed her coolly. When she broke the stare and turned around slightly as she heard a noise, his eyes went quickly to the floor, before he glared out the window almost angrily. "Patience is overestimated, Weasley, and I don't value it highly."

"What do you not value; patience or that it's overestimated?"

"Don't be cheeky with me, Weasley. I can make your life miserably very easily, and you should be aware of that." He glanced at her, and his icy cold eyes did not soften a bit as they stared at her for a split second before he returned his gaze to the window. Ginny didn't reply, but merely turned around and was about to leave, when he spoke again. "So what's it going to be?"

"With what?"

"With - you know what with," he said and glared at her. "You're not all that, Weasley, don't make me ask you again."

"I'll think about it," she said, and smiled rather mockingly. "I'll see you, Malfoy." She left the room quickly, and left him there, as he stared hard at the spot where she had just stood. He then hid his own eyes behind his hand, and slowly let his fingers brush against his eyelids. Sleeping with a Weasley on a regular basis? What on earth was next?

Still, it was a strangely satisfying thought and he could not hide the smug and pleased grin that spread across his face as he left the room. He quickly looked around to make sure nobody could see his foolish grin, and glanced down at his wrist and his clock.

In two mortal hours Ginny Weasley would be in his room, and Draco Malfoy could see nothing wrong with that.