Complicated

~

Draco opened the door to the Three Broomsticks, holding it open for Ginny, who quietly thanked him. The air was warm and heavily fragrant, seeming to immediately warm their frozen bones. Draco looked at Ginny, who was stomping snow off her shoes, and noticed how small and delicate she looked. Snow had buried itself in her flaming hair and her eyebrows and eyelashes, giving her a slightly unearthly look. Draco shook his head slightly and brushed the quickly melting snowflakes out of his hair before they ruined the style he'd put it in.
Ginny shook all the snow out of her hair and chose a table while Draco was busy running his hand through his hair and fixing it. The table was near the front, giving Madam Rosmerta easy access to it, but it was also sort of out of the way so no one would bother them. She sat down on one side, glancing around the pub.
It was mostly empty since it was still early for most of the Hogwarts students to have left their common rooms to come to Hogsmeade.
Draco took a seat across from Ginny, pulling out his book and dropping it on the table.

"It's uncomfortable to sit with that thing in my pocket," he explained in response to the strange look she gave him.

"Oh, okay. Where did you get it? It's not that easy to get a hold of Muggle books." Draco nodded in agreement.

"You have no idea how bloody hard it was to find this. I eventually had to borrow it from Dumbledore," he commented, glancing down at the book.

Ginny's eyes widened. He was borrowing a book from Dumbledore? She grinned slightly; maybe Draco Malfoy was finally getting a decent personality to go along with his looks. Madam Rosmerta walked over to their table, carrying a tray of butterbeers.

"The usual for you, Miss Weasley, and for you, Mister Malfoy! First round on me," the older woman grinned knowingly as she passed out the drinks to the couple. She nodded to them both before returning to her post behind the bar. She'd seen many strange but somehow destined couples over the years--Lily and James Potter for one, Narcissa and Lucius, Ron and Hermione, and now a fiery Weasley and cold Malfoy. She saw what Ginny and Draco didn't. After a moment of smiling and watching the table, she turned back to pouring butterbeers.
Ginny took a sip of her butterbeer, glancing nervously at Draco.

"What's it about?" she asked after a moment, trying to get conversation starting again by mentioning his book. Draco's eyes flickered slightly with enthusiasm before his usual cold and slightly blank look returned.

"It's pretty good, actually. It's about Moria, the Empress of the Dark Faeries," he chuckled slightly, "the Muggles can have such strange visions of magic and the ancient world." He took a swig of butterbeer and looked at Ginny. There was a moment of silence. Draco searched his brain for a question to ask, something to ask that would be to his advantage...

"What are you into? What kind of food do you like?" Dammit, Draco! Not THAT kind of usefulness! he scolded himself, glancing at Ginny. Thankfully, Ginny only smiled and replied.

"I like almost everything, really. I love chocolate, though. And mashed potatoes," Draco's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Really? I like mashed potatoes; They're about the only food I can make...and enjoy making. Smashing them up with the beater is somewhat amusing." Ginny's eyebrow rose and she giggled slightly.

"What? You don't like smashing the potatoes?" he asked her increadiously, and she shrugged, still giggling.

"I've never thought anything about it," she replied.

"What kind of deserts?" He shot at her. While he was on the subject, he might as well as ask. There was no harm in this, not to mention it would make his father mad, which was a big plus. Lucius Malfoy had never really been a part of his sons life, except publically and lately, trying to make him join Voldemort. He'd get harsh letters from his father all the time about his grades and reminding him to keep up the family honor; occasionally he'd recieve this rants from Lucius himself. Draco had witnessed the death of two Ministry workers by torture that summer. Reality had kicked in and he realized that he didn't want to be like that; he didn't want to be like his father. He couldn't change his personality from what it had built up with for 16 years in a couple months-- nor did he want to. But the moment the life had seeped out of the bodies of those humans, Draco had sworn up and down that he woud die before being a Death Eater. Draco shook his head slightly, he didn't want to think about Lucius or the Death Eaters right now. He snapped back to reality as Ginny started to talk again.

"I also like Italian ice cream; it's really good. I don't get to have it a lot, though, it's really expensive. I'm sure you've had it a bunch of times and it's nothing special for you," Ginny said offhandedly, looking at his expensive clothes. Draco leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, and you know so much about my lifestyle?" he asked sharply. Ginny's eyes widened and she looked taken aback.

"No, I just thought..." she began and Draco cut her off.

"Yeah, you just assumed, like everyone else in this damn school does," Draco spat, and
Ginny's eyes narrowed, her anger sparking.

"Well, it's not like you give anyone an idea of what to think except that you're really rich and you get whatever you damn please!" she hissed at him, anger simmering in her dark eyes. Draco was the surprised one this time, and he backed off. After thinking for a moment, he realized she was right. He hated being wrong, especially when it was a girl that pointed out that he was. After an awkward moment of silence, Draco looked up at Ginny, his eyes apologetic.

"No, I've never had Italian ice cream." he said softly. Ginny's features brightened, and she grinned.

"Do you want to try some?" she asked, still grinning. There was something unsettling about that smile; something that reminded Draco of the Weasley twins.

"Uhhh...sure," Draco told her, looking slightly suspecious. Ginny clapped her hands together and finished her drink, leaping out of her seat.

"C'mon, we have to get going if we are!" she grabbed his wrist and dragged him out the door into the snow.
Madam Rosmerta smiled a wide smile as she cleaned up the table, watching the two students disappear into the snow.

~

"Ginny, it's a train. Unless it's made out of Italian Ice Cream or has some in it, I don't see why we're here," Draco commented. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"No, you prat; the train takes us to the ice cream. Be careful, though, it's a muggle place," Ginny explained, and Draco's eyes widened.

"I can't be seen in a muggle ice cream parlor!" He exclaimed. Ginny sighed impatiently.

"Just like you can't be seen with a Weasley?" she pointed out and Draco faltered. Dammit! She did it again! Draco cursed to himself, and nodded. Ginny grinned that disturbing grin again, at pulled herself onto the train.

"Are we going to have to pay?" he asked her as he followed.

"For the ice cream or the train ride?" Draco shot her an annoyed look. Ginny smirked at him. At that moment, Draco had no trouble believing that this small, dainty looking red-head was related to the Weasley Twins.

"No, we won't have to pay for the train ride," she answered his question. Draco blinked and peered down the hallway. There was a conductor collecting money from the rest of the people on the train. Draco felt Ginny wrap her hands around his wrist, yanking him into a closet.
Draco had enough sense to shut the door before he tripped over a broom and fell against the wall. Well, not exactly the wall--onto Ginny, who was against the wall.
Ginny gasped in surprise, looking up at Draco. His silver eyes glittered like a cat's in the semi darkness.

"Well, this is a precarious position," he said softly. Ginny swallowed and nodded. Draco braced his hands against the wall and pushed himself back to where he was standing upright. He looked around. The room was lit only by the light from the hallway, which was seeping in the crack in the door. Several sweeping, not flying, brooms were stacked in the corner, along with some buckets of Magical Mess Remover and a small, folded up step ladder.

"What are we doing in a broom closet, Weasley? If you wanted a snog, you could have been more blunt about it," He smirked.

"As if, you pig," Ginny snorted. She looked down at the floor and pulled out the small step-ladder out from the corner, then climbed on it.
Draco blinked. She'd just given him a very good view of her backside. Too bad she was wearing pants; Draco wouldn't have minded a look at her legs. He always had a thing for good looking legs.
Ginny let out a cry of truimph, and one of the ceiling tiles swung out downwards. She pulled herself into the hole and motioned for him to follow before disappearing into darkness.
Draco sighed and once again, followed Ginny Weasley.

~

Blaise was angry. Angrier than she could remember being--well, except when she had thrown one of the annoying first years down a staircase the week before--and then there was that time she...Blaise scowled and cut her thoughts short.
She could not believe Draco! He'd not even cared when she'd dumped him, and then he had dropped her in a snow back. It was disgraceful. The worst part was she had seen him leaving the back way with the Weasley bitch.
A thought crossed her mind, and Blaise grinned wickedly. The Weasley girl had dated Harry Potter, right? So what if she forced Potter to fall for Weasley again, and then conviced Draco to get rid of her, then she'd have him for herself. Therefore she'd get what she wanted, the Weasley girl would be boyfriend-less and Harry Potter would be heart broken.
It was perfect. Flawless; something only a Slytherin could come up with.
Or so she thought. Only a Slytherin wouldn't consider love.

~

Draco and Ginny had been crammed in the tiny hidespace for fifteen minutes. Thankfully, Draco hadn't gotten the crap beaten out of him, he was in a rather inappropriate positon, which he'd been forced into after Ginny had closed the trap door.
Ginny was in the same situation, and was surprised at the fact that Draco hadn't tried to harrass her.
The train lurched to a stop, sending the two teenagers flying to the other side of the crawlspace, which wasn't really all that far away. It just shifted their positions where Ginny was lying on top of Draco.
Ginny turned crimson, and tried to move off of him, but she didn't have the space to slid away.

"It's times like these I'm glad deodorant exists," Draco drawled, smirking at the blush that was spreading from her face to her neck.

Draco placed his feet against the wall and pushed. It was a stupid mistake, it propelled him into the trap door which swung open. The two toppled to the floor.
"Shiiiiiitt!!" Draco cursed as they fell, and the two crashed to the ground. Ginny groaned.
The door to the compartment opened a moment later after there was the murmer of voices. The students blinked in the bright light, and looked up to see the conductor scowling down at them.