Fall From Grace

Chapter Five - Of Alcohol and Confessions

Ginny did not come back through the portrait hole that night. Ron knew because he actually stayed awake all night to check on her. At ten he thought she may have been avoiding them, by half past people were beginning to go to bed and Ron was sure she was going to come in just before curfew. At eleven o'clock Hermione had sent all the little 'uns to bed and there were just a few sixth and seventh years most of whom were still sitting in silence, not wanting to anger Ron. As the clock struck midnight the only people in the common room were Harry, Ron and Hermione. By One it was just Harry and Ron and now, as people began to move above him there was just Ron. He had spent most of the night thinking about what happened with Hermione and how exactly he was going to tell Harry what happened. Not that Harry hadn't already guessed. Hermione had made him move up on the sofa and for two hours she had not said a word to Ron, even Harry was not that oblivious. Every time a noise came from up stairs part of him wished Hermione would come down stairs and talk to him and the other half wished it was Ginny who would tell him the whole day had just been part of his imagination. Ginny had been out nearly 16 hours.

"Oh got up early did we Ron?" Hermione asked in the most controlled tone she could muster from the staircase.

"No... Awake all night... Need coffee." Ron was still staring at the fire.

"You didn't. All night? Ron, go and have a shower then we will go for breakfast. I'll keep an eye out as I put the finishing touches to my Airthmancy homework." Hermione was not going to take no for an answer and pushed him up towards his bedroom.

Airthmancy had always been fascinating and so when Hermione was re-reading her homework answers Ginny managed to sneak past hoping to have breakfast and get away before she had to see Ron. He was not going to be happy. When Ron finally got down to the great hall most people had already eaten and left but Ginny was still munching on a piece of toast at the far end of the Gryffindor table, far away from all the other members of her house who continued to sneak looks at her and whisper about her. Unfortunately Ron was not so subtle.

"Where the fuck were you last night?" he bellowed as soon as he entered the hall.

"In bed. Draco flew me up after the game." Ginny smiled a little at the forlorn looks on Harry and Hermione's faces; at least Mr. Potter has noticed me now she wanted to sing at them.

"Nu-uh. The fat lady said nobody had come back from the match before me. Where were you really?" Ron was standing with his hands on his hips and most of the people in the great hall were staring at the scene.

"Draco dropped me in my room." Ginny stared at the table

"In YOUR ROOM. Oh God. He was in your room?" Ron looked shocked.

"Draco-"

"HIS NAME IS MALFOY. How could you? With Malfoy, Ginny I never knew you were such a little whore!" Ron screamed and a tear began to slide down Ginny's cheek, she couldn't think of one thing to say.

"Take that back Weasley. I will not have you making my girlfriend cry." Draco's voice came clear across the floor and in two steps he was standing behind Ginny with a hand on her shoulder.

"Shut up Malfoy!" Harry stood up beside Ron. "You should never have gotten involved with her."

"He's right." Crabbe and Goyle were now stood next to Harry and Ron and were not looking happy. "She's a filthy little Muggle lover."

"Stop touching her Malfoy before I beat your ass in." Ron stepped forward and glanced at Crabbe and Goyle who were stepping up united with him. Draco just looked bored.

"Oh please... And I would beat your asses with his." Draco smirked at his henchmen. "Ginny love, come on."

Still crying, Ginny took his hand and followed him out of the great hall and along a corridor. His fingers entwined with hers and she was happy to let him lead her towards an empty classroom.

"Ignore them Ginny. They'll get used to it." Draco lifted her chin with a finger and wiped the tears off his face. She smiled a little and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the lips.

"What was that for?" Draco gasped as she pulled away. "You said no kissing."

"I said it was a privilege and what you did in there was...thank you." Ginny smiled and shook her head. "Who knew this would be so hard?"

"We can stop if you want. I mean the look on Potter's face this morning proves we got to him." Draco nodded slowly.

"Stop?" A smile and evil laughed lighted Ginny's face. "Oh no. If you are still up for it we make them pay. I refuse to have them tell me what to do."

"So what does that mean?" Draco asked.

"Can you have non-Slytherin visitors?" Ginny smiled

"Yes. I am Head Boy!"

"Ok, tonight I get into your room. You can blindfold me through the common room if you want." Ginny licked her teeth seductively.

"It's ok. There is a special entrance to my room anyway. How will you-"

"Just leave that up to me." Ginny grinned and laughed nervously as the rest of her charms class came into the classroom. "See you at lunch?"

"Maybe sooner," Draco said leaning down and kissing her cheek. "Don't cry anymore huh?" He whispered in her ear before sweeping out of the room leaving a group in the corner staring at her shocked.

Her lips still tingled from where she had kissed Draco and she managed to get her singing charm to work perfectly. The acorn on her table was now going through the score of 'Les Miserables' after having already performed all of 'Cats'. A huge smile was plastered to her face as she left the classroom in a much better mood than she had entered. Professor Flitwick had informed the class at the beginning of the lesson they would be working on the armor-bewitching spell. Ginny was slightly worried how such a small man would get twenty suits of armor to enter the classroom and behave but he had modified the spell and given each student an acorn. He gave Ginny twenty-five points for her spell but had taken away five when Ginny informed him that her acorn wouldn't stop as there was no part of her that wasn't singing. She had managed to put a quieting charm on him so it would only be as loud when she really wanted to sing herself.

The corridor was bustling but she spotted the shock of blonde hair before anything else. So that's what he meant by maybe sooner. Draco walked over and took her books. Using his free hand he entwined his fingers with hers and as they walked down the corridor they could hear singing.

'I love him...I love him...I love him but only on my own...'

%%%

Ginny made it through the rest of the day in a fairly peaceful manner. Draco appeared at the end of each of her classes and walked her to the next one. He carried her books and they would talk, like two normal people. Ginny had potions just before lunch and when the bell rang for professor Snape to let them Ginny wanted to run out of the room, sadly Snape had other ideas.

"Miss Weasley, a word." His slimey voice carried over the others packing their parchment away.

"Professor Snape?"

"I will wait to every body else has gone..." he said, glaring at a Hufflepuff who was having difficulty stuffing his potions book into his already over-full bag. The boy scooped the things that were left on his desk into his arms and ran out of the room.

"Can I ask what this is about?" Ginny said in a much braver voice than she expected.

"I presume you have that grasp of language," he said, deadpan.

"What?"

"May you ask what this is about? Yes, you may. Was that what you meant?" Snape smiled, ever so slightly, at her.

"Erm...ok."

"Yes means Yes, Virginia."

"Yes Professor Snape. May I ask why have you kept me behind?"

Snape looked up at her and had opened his mouth to answer when Ginny heard the thundering of feet down the corridor and the door to his room burst open.

"Oh...Ginny..." Draco was bent double and breathing heavily, "Thanks...Serverus... Come on."

Draco took Ginny by the hand. While Ginny had been looking at the specticle of Draco looking so...dishevelled Snape had risen and it was only as Draco said his name did Ginny look where the potions master had moved to.

"Not a problem Draco," he said and left the room, into his private chambers.

"Well what the hell was that about, Snape doesn't usually just forget to yell at me like that." Ginny was floored by the unexpected behaviour.

"He wasn't going to yell at you. I asked..."

"What?" Ginny nearly screamed.

"I asked Serverus to keep you behind after class. I had Arithmancy you see and it's on the other side of the castle, had to run to get down here. I wanted to take you to lunch." Draco smiled a little.

"I would have only gone to the Hall, you could have found me," Ginny said reasonably. Draco was leading her a different way out of the dungeons and he was concentrating hard.

"We're not having lunch in the Hall, where having it..." Draco pulled a tapestry aside to reveal a small door, he beamed and looked at Ginny, "...here."

The little room was perfect. The ceiling and walls were a deep, dark blue and the floor was hardwood. All around her Ginny could see that the constellations had been painted and charmed to twinkle in the blue paint.

"It used to be where they taught Astronomy," Draco said proudly.

"You brought me to the original Astronomy Tower?" Ginny asked raising her eyebrows. She was shocked to see a faint blush creep onto Draco's cheeks.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said quietly and he gestured to the small picnic table that he had laid.

"It's ok," she said, giggling. "It's amazing in here. How did you find it?"

"On one of my Midnight escapades, "Draco said, as they both sat down. "Help yourself, we have cinnamon tea, because it's cold, and loads of food. I was running away from Filch and I knocked the tapestry off. Needless to say, I didn't wait so I could tell Filch about it. Amazing isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ginny said wistfully, and she began to eat the sandwiches Draco had put out for her.

"So do you feel better than this morning?"

"Ummm?"

"When Weasley and Potter were acting like spoilt like children."

"Oh that, Draco...they...they're worried about me." Ginny pulled the crust off her sandwich.

"We can stop, I know you were mad this morning so you can re-consider," Draco said, but he was highly distracted by the voice in his head that was silently begging her to continue with the plan.

"In for a sickle in for a knut as my Mum says. I want Harry to give me a reason to kiss him and not you." Ginny smiled at the idea.

"I..." Draco's voice cracked as he began to speak, "We are kissing?"

"Not at this minute," Ginny said, smiling.

"We are going to?" Draco asked, with more insistance.

"Well after, we did, this morning...I guess I was thinking that if we don't people won't know that we are a couple."

"So we are going to kiss in public?" Draco was becoming increasingly more alarmed by the way his heart fell down into his stomach. Why was Ginny not wanting to kiss him causing so many problems.

"Well..." Ginny took a deep breath, leaned across the table and kiss him full on the mouth. Before he had chance to respond she pulled her lips away and blushed. "I'm sorry, I just thought we had to..."

"...practice," he said, and captured her mouth with his own.

The taste of the sandwiches she had just eaten was still in her mouth and Draco greedily plunged his tongue into her mouth. She shivered a little at his touch and felt as if part of her was falling away into darkness. The only other person who had kissed her with such hunger and passion was...Tom. Ginny stopped kissing Draco and breathlessly ran her hands all across his face, trying to check that he was who he said he was.

"I've got to go. I'll see you...later," Ginny said, breathlessly before running out of the room and not looking back.

%%%

"I juss needeb to ast you..." Hermione paused while she steadied herself on the doorframe. The end of her sentence was lost as she shut her eyes and nearly fell asleep against it. When Dean had asked her to drink Muggle Vodka with him she knew she should have said no but the results had seemed good at first. Remus, with everything else, had gone from her head and she was sent into the night to...what was her dare again? Something about Snape's underwear flitted into her fuzzy head.

"Hermione! You are drunk!" A small smile played on his lips, even during the Maurders days they had never gotten totally rat-arsed at Hogwarts.

"I'm juss find," She grinned before falling through the doorway and into his arms.

"Well I guess you should just come in then," Remus gently picked her up and carried her to the bed to sit her down, "You can sleep here tonight."

"Thank youp," Hermione pulled his soft blankets round her and watched as Remus began to leave, "Wait! Youp muss stay wif me. Please."

Remus sighed, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen was asking for his help and for him to spend the night with her. She looked so fragile on the bed, swaying slightly and looking up at him with pleading eyes.

"OK. Scoot over a bit or I'll be lying on top of you," The words were out of his mouth before he properly understood what he was saying. Hermione, thankfully, didn't seem to notice but moved over a little. Remus took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Doom you haf somet for me to weer?" Hermione had crawled over to his side and was balancing carefully on one hand.

"Sure," Remus looked desperately round the room he spent most nights wearing only his boxer shorts and sometimes not even them. He had a few pairs of school robes, and one set of dress robes. He also only had six articles of Muggle wear. Jeans, his still dirty top, a white shirt, a football shirt, tie and black trousers. At Hogwarts there was no need for him to bring all of his clothes. If he knew an event was coming which he required other clothes for he asked his housekeeper to send him some from home. Casually he tossed the football top at Hermione and he continued to stare at the wall whilst he heard her get changed.

"All dum," Hermione smiled as he turned round to see all her robes and her bra in a pile next to his bed.

"Are you wearing anything other than the shirt?" Remus asked hoping that he sounded only half as nervous as he was.

"Pants," Hermione smiled and pulled the shirt up a little at the side so Remus could see her underwear line, "What do youp usually weer?"

"Boxers but I can find some..." Remus began but was cut off abruptly.

"Well got into them and cumpt bed," Hermione moved over again and watched intently as Remus' stripped his clothes. He tried to hide his chest and the markings on his legs. The tears from each transformation and the whip marks, from when his Father had found out his son was a werewolf, that had scared. It was hard to say which was more ugly, inflicted pain or required pain?

"Oh my God!" Hermione gasped when he moved into the candle light and she could see for the first time the punishment his body had taken.

"Please don't stare at me. I know I'm ugly. The scars..." Remus sat on the edge of the bed before he lay back, eyes closed, willing her to stop looking at him and hating his condition. How could she love somebody so awful? He felt it very lightly on his chest and his eyes flew open. Hermione was kissing his scars, she was being so soft as if the wounds he had received years ago could still hurt him now.

"When dever I got sick or hurt my Moder would kiss me better," she said without looking up from her task, "I havet make you feel better."

She kissed the deep lines above his stomach and the cuts across his chest. She kissed the scar that ran from his shoulder to his collarbone and the tiny one beneath his chin- a souvenir from the first time Sirius took him on that bloody motorbike. Remus closed his eyes enjoying the fire that raced through his body every time she leant in and the darkness washed over him. She was holding her breath as she kissed the lines around his eyes and he heard her sigh before she brought her lips gently to his.

The kiss dissolved everything. He was all hers and he wanted more. The soft caress she had started turned much more passionate as he kissed her back. He ran his tongue across his own lips to remind her it was there and he felt her open her mouth for him to explore. She moaned into his mouth and his eyes flew open. Gently he pushed her back.

"You're drunk. You don't know what you are doing," He stood up and got off the bed pacing across the floor.

"I do. Honestleep. I do..." Hermione's eyes lit up and she ran across to fetch something from her book back. Slowly she handed him a small black book and she sat down on the bed, "Read it. I wan yout know."

Remus continued to stand and flipped the page to the day before,

Dear Diary,

I saw Remus today. It's one week to the full moon. I read about all the physical changes and it said he will be feeling energetic but I know him and I suppose he'll feel awful knowing what's to come. I wish I could help him forget what he has to go through. I wish I could do it for him. I wish I would know what it was like being torn from your body. I sort of do. Every DADA lesson I feel such a conflict in emotion. Most of the time I think it is lust so I just want to touch him but then he will look at me and the world will change. I don't just want to touch him. I want to love him...the way he deserves.

"Hermione. I...I...think I love you too," Remus said quietly as he turned round.

A small laugh escaped from his lips as he saw what had happened; Hermione was fast asleep and curled up in his bed. Remus smiled and sat next to her flipping the diary to the beginning and starting to read.

Two hours later Remus was lying with his arms folded across his body with snippets of Hermione's diary running through his head. The Head Girl who was taking more subjects than anybody since Dumbledore, the girl who was best friends with Harry Potter, the girl who was facing the impending doom of Voldermort's return only had one thing on her mind. Her diary was about Remus.

%%%

Ginny was clutching her wash bag to her chest. This was the head boy's; no scratch that, this was DRACO MALFOY'S bedroom and it was...tasteful. No lurid naked women winking down from his walls and no shrunken heads on his bookcase. He was actually staring at her reaction.

"I put them all away before you got here." He ginned cheekily.

"What the naked women?" Ginny smirked.

"No the shrunken heads," Draco smiled and turned round hearing her little gasp.

'He can read minds' Ginny thought and was beginning to panic.

"No I can't," Draco sat on the bed and looked at her.

'Thank God.' Ginny inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. 'Oh shit' her mind changed direction, 'do you think he wants me to sit on his bed?'

"Only if you want to," Draco answered he unasked question.

"You said you couldn't read minds." Ginny looked aghast

"You leave your emotion on your face. We are sharing."

"I don't and sharing what?" Ginny smiled feeling slightly more relaxed.

"Do so and the bed," Draco replied.

"Why?" Ginny looked at the double bed that was slowly shrinking with each idea of what she would do that night.

"If someone comes in and sees you on the floor, they would suspect we aren't a couple," Draco pulled the silken green covers back and hopped into bed. Slowly removing his robes beneath the blankets he threw them into a corner and smirked as a house-elf suddenly appear to fold them away neatly and then disappeared.

"If they see you on the floor they could think we had had and argument," Ginny smiled not wanting to think what he was wearing under the blankets.

"On our first night? I guarantee you would be screaming but not at me." Draco smirked and pulled the covers on the other side of the bed over so there was room for Ginny. She decided against it and just sat on the edge of the bed, Draco guessed that her reaction to, and the kiss from, this morning were long forgotten. Her night dress was shorter than it had been when her Mother had got it for her three years ago and she was hoping Draco would look away as she took off the bathrobe but no such luck.

"Come on, I'm knackered." Draco yawned and leant back into his pillows.

"Don't go to sleep. You have to stay up and talk to me." Ginny bounced across to where Draco was beginning to drift away.

"Why?" he asked without opening his eyes

"You just do. Talk to me about Quidditch." Ginny was looking worried and Draco had not yet looked at her. This used to happen with her Mother when they were little. If she spoke they would think she was getting up but by keeping her eyes shut she could just fall back to sleep.

"Why?"

"It's your favourite sport." Ginny gave a smile of satisfaction Draco's eyes had snapped open.

"No it's not!" He re-arranged the covers and sat up.

"Well it's the only wizard sport we play here...and your really good at it."

"Can you keep a secret? I really like football." Draco's mind was running why was he telling her this, and did she just say he was good a Quidditch? Girl must be mad.

"What's that?" Ginny asked intrigued and happy they were having a real conversation.

"It is a Muggle game where 11 men on each team put a ball in the other team's net using only their feet. Oh but the goalie can use his hands."

"Or her," Ginny corrected.

"No, sorry. Muggles don't play sports together. Especially football. They are under the impression girls can't play." Draco shrugged.

"That's awful!"

"That's just the way it is," Draco replied not wanting to get into an argument about the merits of girls' football.

"So who do you support?" Ginny shivered slightly. Draco's room had to be close to the dungeon for it to be so chilly.

"Manchester United!" Draco lifted the covers next to him and looked at Ginny. If she was going to have a conversation with him she couldn't just sit shivering all night.

"Why?" Ginny asked grinning and snuggling into Draco's soft bed.

"Always have done. They are the best team in the world. I'll take you to see them play if you want someday. You need magic to get tickets." Draco laughed and took on a whimsical look that reminded Ginny of Hagrid when her Care Of Magical Creatures class took a field trip to see Dragon's.

"Oh you should see it Gin, the Theatre of Dreams, Old Trafford. 67,000 people all cheering under one roof. That's real magic, the way I feel when I'm walking up the stairs to get to my seat and I can hear everyone singing. It's like I've come home." He paused to look at her. Why was he telling her this stuff, she must think he's insane?

"Carry on," Ginny instructed snuggling closer to him.

"That's what I dream about. Running out onto the pitch in my strip and winning the league for everyone. They have one downfall though, they play in a stupid colour." A huge smile lit his face and is grey eyes were twinkling.

"What?"

"Red," he answered with a smirk and Ginny gasped before inflicting suitable revenge. "Oh Jesus Ginny not the feet. Please I'll be good just get your cold feet off of me!"

"Who plays in green?" Ginny asked sweetly shifting her feet back to their original position.

"Celtic," Draco answered not bothering to explain who they were.

"So why don't you support them?" Ginny asked.

Draco sighed ran a hand through his hair that was no longer slicked back but still damp from his shower and jumped out of bed. The stooped down and finally pulled a huge sheet of paper out from under his bed. It was a poster of a man who looked only a few years older than Draco. He had very dark features and was standing with his knee in the air. There was a ball a foot above his knee and he was wearing a red shirt and white shorts. Beneath this main picture were four smaller pictures of the same man doing other tricks with the ball. In the top corner was a squiggle that looked like it might be a signature.

"Who's that?" Ginny asked as Draco held the poster up for her to see.

"Ruud van Nistelrooy," said Draco indicating the top corner before rolling the poster back up and putting it back under the bed.

"Who?" Ginny asked again at the unfamiliar words.

"Ruud...van...Nistelrooy. (A/N it's pronounced rude van niss tel roy.) United's new Dutch striker. He's amazing. If I could be one person it would be him. Don't look like that I've not gone totally soft in the head, he's not a Muggle. He was a friend of our family's. He was 5 when Potter beat the Dark Lord and we used to play together in the garden, football you know, until Father discovered that Ruud wanted to do it as a job. A pure blood like that wanting to work with Muggles. Ruud tried to explain but it didn't matter. Father threw a fit, even when he moved to Manchester United the only Muggle football club to have nearly a 50% magic team. Who could ever think John O'Shea, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane or David Beckham were Muggles?!" Draco looked at Ginny's confused look and remembered that she didn't know any of these people.

"Sorry." He took a deep breath. "It pisses me off how narrow minded my father is. And how close I came to being like him."

"Tell me more about Manchester United and this Josh Oakey person," Ginny snuggled into the crook of his arm and Draco smiled.

"It's John O'Shea and OK...Manchester United, well in 1902 Newton Heath were the best team about but had no money. So, my great Grandfather on my Mother's side, John Henry Davies had to bail them out and Manchester United was born...."