Trademark smirks and Temperamental redheads

Chapter Five - Midnight Snacks (Fifth Year)

Ginny yawned, and continued trudging down the stairs, stopping outside the painting of a gigantic silver fruit-bowl.

'Now which fruit was it?' Ginny tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, and tickled the green pear, which turned into a large door handle. She pulled on it, and walked into the kitchens, asking the nearest house elf, which happened to be Dobby, for some food.

"Of course Miss Ginny, you just wait here!" and Dobby disappeared. Ginny tiredly settled herself down on a short stool. Why did she have to come to the kitchens for food, while the others were up at the common room partying away? The Gryffindors had just won the Quidditch match against Slytherin that afternoon, and they were still celebrating the victory, even though it was one in the morning now. Ron had bullied her into coming down for more food, even though she insisted all she wanted to do was go to bed.

"Here Miss Ginny! Anything else I can get you Miss?" Dobby asked excitedly.

"No, thanks Dobby. Sorry for keeping you up." Ginny stifled a yawn.

"Goodnight Miss Ginny!" Dobby cried through the closing kitchen door.

Ginny slowly made her way down the corridor, when quite suddenly she was sprawled on the floor, the plate of food she was carrying, clattering loudly on the floor.

"What the hell?" she heard someone cry, and looked up to see angry gray eyes and a frown on Draco Malfoy's face. "Weasley? What are you doing here? Don't you watch where you're going? Look at this mess!" Malfoy cried, pointing at himself.

Ginny looked down at his black silk shirt, which had a giant meatball stuck to it. She couldn't help but giggle slightly at the sight of Malfoy sprawled on the floor, with a meatball stuck to his chest.

"I suppose you find this highly amusing Weasley, but you still haven't told me what you were doing," Malfoy demanded looking slightly put out.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you, I just came to get some food from the kitchens," Ginny said between giggles. "So why are you out here anyway? Couldn't sleep? Well I'd be the same after losing spectacularly to Harry Potter." The last part turned into a taunt as she stopped giggling.

"Look Weasley, it's late, I'm hungry, and you're in my way. Now since your food is ruined, do you want to come back with me to the kitchens? Or you're just going to continue to lie on the floor and get trodden on?"

So Ginny allowed Malfoy to help her up, following him down the corridor once more, and into the kitchens. Dobby was slightly surprised to see her back so soon, but went off to fetch more food all the same. As she was waiting for Dobby, she watched Malfoy utter a spell to wipe the meatball stains off his shirt. He frowned when it was clear that his shirt was now utterly ruined.

"This was very expensive Chinese silk you know?" Malfoy demanded, catching the grin on Ginny's face. "I wouldn't find it funny if I were you, considering this shirt is probably worth more than your whole house," he continued, in a cold sneer.

Ginny's grin disappeared instantly. "Don't you ever get sick of using that phrase?" As she was about to bite back, Malfoy continued.

"Nice necklace you've got there," he said, eyeing her neck. "Wonder Boy gave it to you did he?"

"Don't call him that, Malfoy. And someone very special gave this to me, it's none of your business!" Ginny replied, her hand going up to her necklace defensively.

"Oh, hit a nerve have I? Well I should've guessed anyway, Wonder Boy's too busy going around saving the world to notice your existence. Your brother Weasel probably sent you down here for food, while they discuss secrets without you. Isn't that right little Weasley?" Malfoy smirked at her, settling himself down on a stool.

"That's not true!" Ginny replied. Although, she knew full well that was what the Trio were probably doing right this moment. "They just don't want me to get hurt, that's all," she replied defensively.

Malfoy only smirked deeper, knowing he'd been right. Ginny proceeded to turn her attention elsewhere, pretending Malfoy wasn't sitting there smirking smugly at her.

When Dobby returned with the food, Ginny quickly took it and mouthed a thanks to him, before hurrying out of the kitchens and up to Gryffindor Tower.

~~~

Draco quietly walked back to the dungeons, a glass of milk, and some tarts in hand. He smiled slightly as he recalled what Weasley had said. Would she have said that if she'd known that someone 'special' was him, Draco Malfoy? Probably not. Definitely not.

Losing to Potter at Quidditch was a common thing, but it was still frustrating and disgraceful. Draco had been up all night wondering where he'd gone wrong. He'd been right beside Potter chasing after the golden snitch, and just when he was about to close his fingers on it, Potter had to lunge over from nowhere to take his victory from him, that damn idiot!

He was slightly surprised with himself for his almost civil attitude towards Weasley back in the kitchens. It was strange; she always seemed to pop up when he wasn't in the mood to be conceited and arrogant. After all, it wasn't as if he was expecting to bump into anyone to insult at one in the morning! He did feel somewhat curious about his attitude toward the youngest Weasley. Whenever he saw her, he could almost forget she was a Weasley and proceed to conduct a conversation with her. He felt better now, after the exchange in the kitchens, her presence was soothing. Even though no words of comfort had issued from her mouth, and the incident had ended with her angry with him once again. Draco shrugged his shoulders as a yawn escaped his lips, too late to be thinking irrational thoughts.

~~~

Ginny sighed heavily, throwing herself onto the bed without bothering to take off her robes first. It had been an excruciatingly painful day to say the least. Starting the day off in Professor Trelawney's class was, as would be expected, disastrous. By the end of the lesson, Ginny was looking forward to: a nasty fall on the stairs, being attacked by a ghost (most probably Peeves), getting awarded detention and being betrayed by a close friend. All of these would happen within a week, Professor Trelawney had assured her.

If that hadn't been enough to set a damper on Ginny's mood, double Potions to end the day definitely had. Professor Snape had gleefully taken ten points from Gryffindor, his reason being Ginny's failure to remember that only a dash of leech juice was needed for the Shrinking Potion.

'Well if you weren't breathing down my neck about my inability to skin a Shrivelfig properly, I'd have no trouble remembering,' Ginny had thought darkly; having a sudden urge to take her cauldron, full of Shrinking Potion, and pouring it over the Professor's oily head.

Luckily, she had been able to restrain herself, quickly making her way back to Gryffindor Tower as soon as Potions was over. She didn't fancy hanging around long enough to have Professor Snape award her a detention, probably for skulking or some other such nonsense.

Ginny had nearly slipped into the dream world, when the door to the fourth year girls' dorm opened and in came her friends Sara and Melissa, chatting away animatedly to each other.

"Hey Ginny, you're back! Why didn't you come to dinner? We were worried Snape had given you detention or something," Sara said, flopping onto Ginny's bed and prodding her arm to make sure she was awake.

"Mmmph," Ginny replied from somewhere under her pillow.

"Come on Ginny, we've got something really important to discuss with you! It's about Malfoy!" Melissa said excitedly, attempting to pull Ginny out. At these words, a brown eye appeared from under a corner of the pillow.

"What about Malfoy?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Well, Melissa won't believe me, but I'm absolutely sure Malfoy's interested in me!" Sara answered, positively beaming.

Ginny rubbed the sleep from her eyes and studied Sara carefully, she wasn't kidding.

"Malfoy's... interested in you," Ginny repeated slowly.

"Can you believe her? She's totally nuts, just because Malfoy glanced at her as we passed him outside the Great Hall," Melissa whispered to Ginny, earning a slap on the arm from Sara.

"It's more than that," Sara insisted. "He's been giving me funny looks for months now. Ever since school started. It's so obvious he likes me! And I mean, he is kind of cute, isn't he?" Sara grinned and even Melissa nodded her agreement.

Ginny listened quietly as her two friends discussed the hot topic of Draco Malfoy.

"I just love his eyes, I've never seen anyone with gray eyes before. They suit him so well, cold and unreadable. Mmm, I just love mysterious men," Sara said dreamily.

"I personally like his silvery blond hair, I wish he'd leave it down once in a while instead of slicking it all back like that," Melissa added.

Ginny made a gagging noise, which had the effect of snapping her friends back to reality.

"You two are insane. This is Malfoy we're talking about. Remember? Big bad Malfoy? The jerk who's so arrogant and vain he probably has three mirrors in his room so he can admire his reflection all day long."

"Oh, come on Ginny, you can't honestly tell me that you can look into Malfoy's eyes and feel absolutely nothing," Sara said unbelievingly.

"Leave it Sara, she's too obsessed with her Harry to notice other guys exist. There's no one else but Harry Potter in her eyes," Melissa said with a sly grin.

Ginny let out an indignant squeak and threw her pillow at Melissa's grinning face. Melissa ducked just in time, as Sara burst out laughing and a pillow fight erupted between the three friends.

~~~

Later that night, Ginny turned on her side in bed, her mind wandering back to Malfoy. Was Malfoy really interested in Sara? Sure Sara could be considered one of the prettiest girls in school. She had a beautiful figure, with curves in all the right places and great fashion sense. Her black hair sat lightly on her shoulders, straight and glossy, and her lips were shaped into a perfect pout. Her eyes were a beautiful deep blue, all she had to do was bat her lashes, and the boys would follow after her like little puppies.

It was definitely possible for Malfoy to be interested in Sara, Ginny concluded. But was he serious about it? After that night in the Astronomy Tower last year, it was hard for Ginny to see Malfoy as a very serious person when it came to relationships. A more plausible idea was that Malfoy was just physically attracted to Sara, and would end up hurting her in the long run.

~~~

"I'm just saying that you should be more careful Sara, Malfoy's not someone to be trusted," Ginny explained desperately.

Ginny could distinctly feel a headache coming on. She had spent the last half hour trying to warn Sara about Malfoy, and had succeeded only in bringing their friendship close to ruins.

"You just don't think I'm good enough for him. You're jealous because he's interested in me and not you!" Sara shouted hysterically.

Ginny gaped at her.

"Sara, what are you saying? I'm your friend Sara! I just don't want you to get hurt. You haven't seen Malfoy with his 'appointments' before. He has a new girlfriend practically every week!" Ginny tried to reason.

"How do you know it'll be like that with me? It's different, I know it. And if you have a problem with it then I guess our friendship isn't worth carrying on," Sara said quietly before running out of the dormitory.

Melissa, who had been trying to calm Sara down, looked from a shocked Ginny to the open door, torn between her two friends.

"Go," Ginny said. "I'll be fine. Find Sara, she's really unstable right now. Take care of her."

Melissa nodded and rushed out the door after the distraught Sara.

Ginny leaned back against the bedpost heavily, still trying to figure out what had happened. Had it been her fault? All she had wanted to do was warn Sara about Malfoy. Why had Sara reacted that way? Ginny's head was spinning in confusion. Perhaps it would be best if she just let Sara do what she wanted, after all, was Malfoy really worth losing a friendship over? All Ginny could do now was hope for the best.

~~~

Draco looked up from his reading as the sound of leather boots reverberating off the library floor caught his attention. A Gryffindor fourth year with shiny black hair and a sulky expression strode purposefully towards him. He looked at her for a moment before realization struck him, she was the one who had been following him around for quite some time now. He had spotted her hiding in the shadows or around the corner, all over the school.

Draco was used to this by now, after all, he was handsome and charming, as well as rich, and a Malfoy to top it all off. All the girls in school would die to be seen with him in public. Anonymous love letters and girls following him to class were a common occurrence for him.

As the Gryffindor girl reached him, he sat back in his chair, a smirk on his pointed face.

"Could I talk to you for a moment, Draco?" the girl asked him. Draco raised an eyebrow, studying the girl closely. She had a nice figure and a pretty mouth, Draco could get to like this one.

"Of course. But first, I need a name to put to that pretty face of yours," Draco answered.

The girl went slightly pink, but moved closer to him so that her thigh was brushing against Draco's knee.

"Sara," the girl whispered quietly, taking a seat next to him.

"So tell me Sara, what's a frown doing on such a pretty face?" Draco continued.

"Well, I can't really explain it to you here, can I?" the girl replied, looking up at him through her lashes, her hand resting lightly on his knee.

"Of course not. How inconsiderate of me. Shall we go to some place...more secluded?" Draco asked.

At the girl's nod, he got up and strolled out of the library, making his way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Once there, he turned around to the girl behind him, she smiled up at him shyly as she placed her arms around his neck.

He looked at her for a moment before wrapping his arms around her waist and seizing her lips with his own. He deepened the kiss, backing her up against a tree as she moaned against his mouth. Draco's left hand traveled beneath her school shirt, stroking her stomach lightly until she pressed her body up against his. As his hands busied themselves with unbuttoning her shirt, his lips left a trail of kisses down her neck, all the while enjoying the girl's moans of pleasure. He could feel her hands fumbling with his belt buckle, as his hand moved up her thigh and beneath her skirt. Draco groaned as her hand came into contact with something hard.