Dreams of Fire

Chapter Three – Into The Inferno

Later that night Ginny crawled into her bed in the dormitory. Unknown to her, Draco was lying awake, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what his head was telling him. At the same time, they fell asleep and drifted into their dreams.

They were walking through the Forbidden Forest when something moved in the trees up ahead. She pulled his arm tighter and he kissed the top of her head as if to reassure her. She stopped walking.

He turned and asked ‘What’s wrong Ginny? Is there something that’s bothering you?’

‘I’m not going any further until we decide what we’re going to do.’

‘What do you mean? I don’t get it.’

‘I mean, we’re either going to have to tell people about us or…’

‘Or?’

‘Or we’ll… we’ll have to finish. I can’t keep sneaking off.’

‘Okay, I thought there was something seriously wrong! We’ll tell people, if that’s what you want.’ At that point, he pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply.

‘Oh, Draco, I think that I might be falling for you…’ He pulled away from her and looked deep into her eyes. ‘Draco, it would be really great if you said something right now…’

‘Ginny, I already know that I’ve fallen for you, the only thing I can’t work out is how far.’

Both Draco and Ginny woke up suddenly and sat bolt upright in their beds. They had the same thought at the same moment ‘When will I see you again?’ Draco immediately jumped out of bed, got dressed and ran towards the Gryffindor common room. He got to the painting of the Fat Lady and stood wondering what to do.

As he was lingering there, Ginny came out of the portrait with her friends. He caught her eyes and held her gaze steadily. As he looked at her, she paused and then told her friends that she’d forgotten something. Draco caught her sleeve as she passed him and pulled her behind a pillar.

‘Draco, what? I mean, why?’

‘The dreams. You can’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about; I know you’ve had them too. What I just want to know is if what you said last night was true?’

‘You mean… we’re dreaming the same dreams? So, when I told you last night in my dream that…that I like you, I really told you?’

‘Yup, and when I said it back, I told you.’

‘Oh, Draco…’ one of his hands slid around her waist and the other pulled her mouth to his. He pulled away from her, only to find her arms wind around his neck and pull him back to her again. ‘If it means anything, I meant what I told you last night.’

Draco glanced around the pillar and suddenly whispered, ‘Ginny, quick, you’re not going to believe this, but Ron and Harry are coming out of the portrait!’

‘I’m not hiding Draco. If this is going to happen, it’s going to happen properly, and I refuse to hide!’

As she said this she pulled him down to her and kissed him again. At that exact moment Ron and Harry walked past. Unfortunately, Ron noticed them.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, Ginny Weasley?!’

‘I think I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing, and it’s none of your business AT ALL!’

‘C’mon Ron, let’s go to the Hall, I’m hungry.’ Harry pulled on his arm, trying in vain to avert a fight between Ron and Draco.

‘Look, Weasley, your sister knows what she’s doing, and she wouldn’t be doing it if she didn’t want to be, so I suggest that you just butt out and leave us alone.’

‘Why you…’ Ron lunged towards Draco, his fists flailing madly. He managed to connect his right fist to Draco’s face, causing Draco to stumble and lean against the wall behind him. Ginny flew to his side, gently moving his hand out of the way to see what damage Ron had done.

She turned and rounded on Ron, ‘What the hell are you doing? It’s my damn life, and I’ll do what I want, so leave me alone.’ She grabbed Draco’s arm and stalked off in the opposite direction to the hall, leaving Ron and Harry staring down the corridor.

‘Can you believe the nerve of that guy? Taking advantage of my sister like that!’

‘Err… Ron…don’t kill me for saying this, but it looks like she knew what she was doing. Lets go eat.’

‘Fine, I’ll deal with him later.’ Harry pulled Ron’s arm and led him to the Great Hall.

When Ginny had dragged Draco down the corridor to the entrance to the dungeons, she stopped, and let go of his sleeve. ‘So, what do we do now?’ she demanded.

‘Well, we could go down to my common room, it’ll be empty by now.’

‘Ok, you lead the way then.’

Draco took Ginny’s hand and led her down the steps to the dungeons. They reached the entrance and Draco opened the door. He climbed in, pulling Ginny after him. As she clambered in, she over balanced and fell, right into Draco’s waiting arms. He helped he upright, and then looked around.

‘As I thought, totally empty, they’ll all be eating by now, we’ve got the place to ourselves. You pleased?’

‘Won’t someone notice that we’re not eating breakfast?’

‘Well, Harry and Ron are hardly likely to tell anyone where we are, and I don’t usually eat breakfast, so no, they won’t!’ Draco wound his arms around Ginny’s waist and pulled her mouth to his. As they broke apart, Draco towed Ginny over to the fireplace.

‘Incendio,’ he muttered and a fire appeared.

He sat down in front of it, motioning for Ginny to sit next to him. She sat down and leaned her head against his shoulder.

‘This is nice,’ She said. They sat there, looking at the flames until a noise behind them made them jump up.

‘Someone’s coming in,’ Draco whispered. ‘Doorway to the left, go straight through it and up the stairs, second door on the left is mine, no one will look in there. Quickly!’ Ginny ran to the door, closing it behind her as Crabbe and Goyle came into the room.

‘Hey Draco, your little friend didn’t appear for breakfast this morning. Maybe she’s sick, shouldn’t you go and see her?’ Crabbe jeered at him.

‘Actually, I’m not feeling too well myself. Tell Professor Snape that I’m taking the day off in bed. He won’t mind.’ Saying that, Draco went to the door and disappeared up the stairs to his room, leaving Crabbe and Goyle staring in amazement.

‘Draco hasn’t had a day off since the Polyjuice experiment went wrong,’ Goyle muttered.

‘Oh well, guess we’d better go and tell Snape.’ They left the room, taking their books for the morning with them.

Meanwhile, Ginny had run up the stairs, opening the second door on the left. She walked into the room, and was startled to find only one bed instead of five! Draco’s things were strewn all over the place, his robes lying on the floor. The motherly instinct came out in her and she started to tidy up. Draco arrived just as she was putting the last robe into the wardrobe.

‘What have you done?’ he asked her.

‘Well, I just thought that it was a bit messy, so, well, I tidied… is that ok?’

‘Ok? It’s fantastic!!’ He scooped her up in his arms and kissed her. ‘Will people notice if you’re not around today? Just wondered because I’ve got myself the day off.’

‘Well, I only have one lesson of Herbology today, and the rest of the time I’m supposed to be practising my flying, so I don’t think people will notice too much…’

‘GREAT! That means we have the whole day together…’ At this point, Draco’s arms seemed to give up and he dropped Ginny onto the bed. Draco collapsed onto the bed next to her and they both started to laugh…