Much Ado About Draco

Chapter 4: Of Fairy Tales and Cannibalism

Ginny grinned. "Malfoy?" she finally asked. "Has your mother ever told you any fairy tales?"

"Fairy tales?" he asked, trying hard and failing in hiding his shocked expression.

"You are asking ME if my mother ever told me any fairy tales? Fairy tales are for girls!"

Boy, he looks as if he really means it! Ginny thought, smiling inwardly. Because of some unfathomable reason she thought that was cute.

"Of course they are for girls. But for boys as well!" she told him, shaking her head and smiling at the memory of Fred and George who had always declared that fairy tales were only for girls, that they wouldn't even want to touch her books because they said 'they wouldn't be able to turn us into girls but I think they are powerful enough to make sure we end up gay!' One day she had noticed that two of her books were missing, finally (after searching through every corner of her house) found Fred and George, sitting in their room, reading them and being so busy and enthusiastic about it that they didn't even notice her watching them. They had been quite embarrassed when they had noticed her presence.

Draco snorted contemptuously. "If you think so," he drawled. "But what should fairy tales have got to do with this over-sized cookie?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Weeeell, I'm afraid you would have to listen to me for quite a long time. I'm not sure whether you'd be able to do that without telling me that I'm a...a...I don't know, something rude." " -no, I don't need you to give me an example, thank you very much," she added hastily when she saw that he was inhaling and opening his mouth as if to say something.

"I wasn't trying to give you an example. I wanted to tell you that I might put a Silentium Spell on myself. I'm afraid that's the only way of keeping me from being rude to you. But as I'm not sure whether you would undo the spell afterwards I'll have to try and behave. Make it as quick as you can. I'm not known for being patient," he told her, his voice gaining a dangerous note towards the end.

"Erm, okay." Ginny said hastily, suspecting that her eyes looked slightly panicky. "Once upon a time there were two siblings, Hansel and Gretel. Their parents were really poor, you see..."

At this Draco had to fight back the urge to ask whether they were even poorer than the Weasleys.

"...and they couldn't afford to feed the children. So their mother-or was it their stepmother, I don't know for sure, well, she sent them into the forest, to..." she continued to tell the story of Hansel and Gretel to Draco and was quite contended when she saw that he was fascinated by it because he was looking slightly disappointed when the story ended. "...and they lived happily ever after. Dunno whether they married a prince or a princess but I doubt that. End of the story."

"So you think this is the hut of the witch who turned children into cookies?" he asked, narrowing his eyes, inspecting the house closely.

"Um, yes,I,...I guess I do," Ginny stuttered. She knew it sounded absurd. But she was quite sure that there was an ugly old hag living in there. She secretly hoped that Lucius Malfoy would never meet her. The thought of so much evil accumulated in one place was not a very brightening one.

"I wonder..." Draco pulled one of the biscuits eyeing it as if he was searching something veeery tiny on it's surface. "I wonder if I could be considered as a cannibal if I ate that."

Ginny cocked an eyebrow. "I very much doubt that. A cannibal is a human being eating human flesh. But this is a cookie, ergo you would eat something completely inhuman. And it doesn't look like a human being," she concluded

"Yeah, but then gummibears gummy bears don't look like it but there's parts of animal bones in them. Do you think you would be a real vegetarian if you ate gummy bears?" he shot back.

Before Ginny could say anything a third voice coming from behind them began shouting and swearing. When they turned around they saw a young woman, tall, with wavy, blond hair, dressed only where necessary.

She didn't wear a lot more than underwear. Meaning that she was wearing leather boots, a pair of leather hot-pants and something that looked like a leather top. But Ginny wasn't sure, since it was merely a stripe of black leather beginning shortly above her breasts and, ending not much farther down. She was wearing tons of make-up and also had a piercing on her navel. Gods, Ginny thought. The last thing missing in her appearance is a tattoo of a dragon or something like that.

The woman just kept swearing, meanwhile trying to pull a Harley Davidson behind her towards the entrance. When she did so her hair that had been covering her arms was blown back by a soft breeze, revealing a tattoo on her upper arm. It was a dragon.

She just looks like the potential victim of this witch. Blonde and completely and utterly dumb. I don't know whether she is dumb but she looks like one of those girls with much butt and no brains at all. Ginny mused after seeing the tattoo.

"Gods-dammit-hell-...-so stupid! Shoulda never done that-who the fucking hell ... I'm gonna shove this machine his fucking arse up. Oh, no, who's that now!" she seemed to have meant Ginny and Draco. "Another silly couple with too much stomach, eh? Are you crazy? What would you say if I started eating your house?"

Bon appétit. I wouldn't recommend the Weasley house since there's Ghouls and Weasleys in there but it's your choice. It's not my fault if you get a severe case of stomach-ache. Draco thought.

You must be quite hungry to even eat the portal but to eat the whole house...nobody has such a big stomach! Ginny thought. Besides I think it is really creepy to eat the family-own catacombs dad told me of.

The scarcely dressed woman seemed to be waiting for an answer. Ginny didn't know what to say, so she muttered something about not being able to believe she would ever be in that situation.

She hadn't intended on anybody hearing it and had said it almost inaudibly but Draco seemed to have heard it because he smirked and said "You bet!" he looked extremely smug.

Acting superiorly towards others, towards poorer people was just so much fun in his opinion.

Usually the people then thought of something witty to say but Ginny didn't even bother thinking of something intelligent to say. The stress of the whole situation suddenly broke down on her and she did the first thing that crossed her mind.

In this case it was tackling Draco. She knocked him over, having caught him off-guard and was soon sitting on top of his chest, fists flying, trying to punch him and yelling at him at the same time which seemed to be not as easy as she had thought.

"How dare you say such a thing?" she shouted furiously, her eyes blazing with fury.

Draco was having a hard time avoiding her fists but he still had the time to answer. At least he thought so. He was just starting to say something when she managed to land a hard punch on his nose. He let out a pained "oof" and brought a hand to his nose, noticing that it was bleeding.

As soon as she had seen the blood coming out of his nose Ginny had ceased hitting Draco and was staring at him in disbelief and horror. What have I done? She thought hysterically. She had completely lost control of herself!

"Um Malfoy, listen, I'm ... I'm sorry," Ginny stuttered. "I didn't want to, uh...!"

"Just get off my chest and shut the hell up!" Draco hissed disdainfully.

"Your chest?" Ginny asked, startled. Then she looked down and realized the position she was in. Even thinking about it would have had her blushing furiously any other day or time but now she was too confused to, so she merely swallowed and was just about to climb off him when someone gripped her shoulder firmly and was pulled to an erect position.

Draco sighed with relief when her weight was lifted off him, firstly because she had been crushing his chest and he hadn't been able to breathe and secondly because he wanted the strange tingling feeling that had been there when she was sitting on his chest to go away. Not that it had been unpleasant, he just thought it was not right to enjoy a Weasley sitting on top of him.

While Draco was sighing with relief,Ginny had turned to look at the woman who really didn't look like a Dark Witch who ate children. Cookies, not children! She corrected herself mentally.

"How about we go inside," the woman suggested with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

She was already dragging Ginny to the door and because Ginny was so confused she didn't put up any resistance.

The inside of the house looked so completely different from the outside. It was hard to believe they belonged to each other. There was only something that looked like a prison cell: an oven, a shelf with cooking supplies, a pile of chopped wood and a wooden stool. The woman dragged Ginny into the prison cell, locked it and disappeared out of the door.

Ginny stood in the middle of the cell, carefully taking in every detail of her surroundings. There were three mattresses on the ground, and in one corner there stood a chamber-pot. And that was about everything. So this cell is made for three people Ginny mused when she heard a sickening noise. She couldn't tell what it was but she knew she didn't like it.

A minute later she knew what the sound had been: the witch must have kicked Draco because she pulled him through the door into the cell and he was clutching his stomach tightly, groaning.

She then locked the cell again, and muttered something along the lines of "Serves him right if he refuses to stand up" at Ginny's shocked expression. Then she turned on her heel, left the hut and after a couple of seconds of awkward silence an engine roared, the sound getting fainter as the witch rode away on her Harley.

Ginny waited anther two minutes after the sound had completely faded, she turned and looked at the figure lying on the floor.

"Um, Malfoy, are you okay?" she asked timidly while touching his arm to turn him around, so he was looking at her. He shook her arm off with a brisk movement and hissed something through gritted teeth but Ginny didn't understand him.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"I said 'Don't touch me'"

Ginny snorted. "Don't be stupid. You need help. Turn around!" she commanded and wondered briefly how she managed to let her voice sound that firm.

Sighing Draco turned around and Ginny gasped. His face wasn't as expressionless as always. Instead there was a pained look in his half closed eyes and his face was smeared with blood. His breath came ragged and if possible he looked even paler than he usually did.

With one swift motion, Ginny had removed her cloak and was tearing it apart, so she had a part of the fabric in the size of a paper tissue. She conjured up a bowl of water, dipped the piece of cloth in briefly and began wiping Draco's face.

He was tempted to push her away at first but let her continue because he wasn't sure whether he was able to do it himself and because her light touch felt good. Which couldn't be said of his stomach. Gods, it hurt! That bitch had kicked him with enough force to get a Quaffle flying across three Quidditch pitches.

When she was finished with cleaning his face Ginny did her best to fix his still bleeding nose and thought of something to do about Draco's stomach but as he had no open wounds there she didn't know what to do. While she had wiped away his blood Draco had relaxed a little, so Ginny thought the pain would be ebbing away by itself anyway.

Absently, she brushed away a strand of hair that was hanging in his eye and felt shivers run down her spine while she was doing so. This is odd! She thought. Why do shivers run downmy spine when I'm brushing away his hair. In those novels I read it's always the other way round!

Unsure of what to do she cleared her throat and because she still didn't know what to do she cleared her throat again.

"Stop clearing your throat Weasley, it disturbs me in my self-pity" Draco snapped, when she cleared her throat for the third time.

"Oh, I'm sooooo sorry, poor little Draco is suffering and I dare to clear my throat. Bad me!" she said with fake shame, slapping herself lightly while saying the last two words.

"Shut it, you're giving me a headache!" Draco groaned. "And to you it's Malfoy!" he added

"This leads me to the conclusion that you don't like me. What an indignity!" Ginny said in the same fake voice as before.

"Aargh, fuck you Weasley!" Draco said while covering his eyes with his hands as if in pain.

"Not with you watching," she replied looking very smug as she saw him dropping his hands and his eyes growing wide.

Somehow they had skipped roles. She was now the smug one and he the poor fellow who just wanted to be left alone. Ginny knew she wasn't being fair but she had been a good girl for all her life and now her desire to pay things back had taken the upper hand in the battle with her conscience.

"She does have strong legs, eh? Or is it just hard boots?" Ginny asked mockingly, actually enjoying the pained look on his face but being mildly disappointed because he didn't reply.

"You know what?" Ginny said, looking at the ceiling as if it was something very interesting. "I think you should definitely sleep a while. You look pretty beat up and exhausted."

"What do you think I've been trying to do all the time now?" Draco snapped, being more than just a little angry, at her and at the fact that he wasn't able to think clearly or to sit up.

"Then why are you lying on the floor if there's a mattress?" Ginny retorted, eyeing him skeptically.

Draco's eyes flew open instantly. "There's a mattress?" he asked unbelievingly.

"Yes, there's a mattress, and if you had looked around instead of trying to drown in your self-pity you would have noticed that there's not just one mattress but that there are three!" she answered dryly.

He rolled his eyes which caused him to wince as a sharp pain shot through his head. Slowly, very slowly he got to his knees and crawled over to the nearest mattress, slumped down on it and fell asleep almost immediately, relieved that the Weasley girl had stopped talking. She was so unnerving! What did she think of? He was lying there completely help- and defenseless and she was abusing the state he was in. Just before he fell asleep a tiny, unpleasant voice piped up in his head, almost whispering the words just like you use to do...

Ginny sat in a corner of the cell and watched Draco. He had fallen asleep immediately after lying down on the mattress. Other people looked cute, or younger when they slept. Draco didn't. His face was expressionless and apart from the fact that his nose was slightly swollen and he didn't smirk or sneer he didn't look any different from how he usually did.

So, what was this about?Her conscious asked curiously.

What was what about? Ginny replied, her eyes not leaving Draco.

Erm, why where you acting so,... strange? You know, being sarcastic and all. That's not you. And besides I thought you fancied him?

I don't fancy him. And I was just in the mood for being sarcastic. It's my bloody right to be sarcastic!

You do fancy him. If that's your way of showing affection...kicking someone lying on the floor... the voice in her head said indignantly.

Ah-correction. I didn't kick someone lying on the floor. This strange lady did.

I didn't mean that literally.The conscious replied matter-of-factly.

Oh. You think I was unfair? But he acts that way all the time! Ginny knew this was even lamer than it sounded.

And do you think everything he does is right?

Certainly not!

And do you think it is an excuse for misbehaving if he does it too?

No. Ginny said, her mental voice sounding more than a bit ashamed.

Fine, point cleared. So, why did you really act that weird? The conscious inquired.

I honestly don't know. One moment he makes me go mad and furious and the next I sit there actually brushing his skin softly just wanting to kiss him and the next he gets me angry again. She said despairingly.

My, my, you really don't know what's going on! Shall I print it on your forehead? You're in lo-ove! The conscious said in a strange sing-song voice.

Well, duh! I was in love with Harry for, wait how long was it? Um, several years, and I never ever behaved that bitchy towards him. I never ever behaved like that before in my whole life!

Well, Harry was just a little crush.

Just a little crush? Yeah, and Mount Everest is just some little hill somewhere in the nowhere of Nepal, and Birmingham Palace is just a little cottage, the Atlantic sea is only a small pond, and-

Okay, I get the point. If you say so, it was not a little crush. What I was trying to say is that, oh, I don't know, you're a teenager, and teenagers sometimes love the people most they are unfriendly to.

Oh, really? Well, at least your lecture had one advantage: now I know that I will never have a chance with Malfoy, since he is madly in love with Harry Potter!

You know exactly that that is not true!

And how would I know? I don't know what's going on in his twisted brain.

I could pay him another visit, if you want me to and just ask him whether he's in love with Harry.

Are you crazy? Are you totally insane? Have you gone completely mad now?

Yes, yes and yes. After all, I'm your conscious.

Oh, very funny!

I know. Mostly I've got the same attributes as you but thankfully there are some differences. Like me having a good sense of humor.

Aw, shut up, leave me alone, go visit Malfoy, or someone else, but go for god's sake!

As you wish. Bye then!

When her conscious had gone or at least shut up (it was hard to tell the difference) Ginny sighed with relief, and tried to get some sleep again. They were trapped in there for a while and she was tired.

When he awoke, Draco felt a lot better. Not strangely acting Weasley. She was sleeping, thank god. He felt like he couldn't bear a conversation with her at the moment.

Five minutes later he changed his mind. Hell, being beat up and imprisoned was boring!

Wake up Weasley, he thought, I'm bored!

Well, she won't wake up, I'm sure of that! She's sleeping like a baby. Needs her beauty sleep. Y'know, she'd look even worse if she didn't have it a rather familiar voice piped up in his mind. Weasley's conscious!

You just leave me alone! He snapped

But I thought you wanted to talk to her. The conscious replied smugly

No, I didn't

Yes, you did.

How the hell do you want to know that? Draco asked angrily.

I can see your thougths!

You can what? Draco choked, mentally of course.

I can see your thoughts. The conscious repeated. Does this make you feel naked or something? It addeed hopefully.

Draco was meanwhile trying desperately not to imagine how he looked naked. This was typically human: somebody tells you he's gonna shove an ironing board up your ass crossway, and poff, this image pops up in your mind: you, standing in front of a mirror, tying desperately to hide those big bulges on both sides of your hips.

Does Weasley feel naked when you look at her thoughts? He asked with great effort.

She doesn't have to...I'm her conscious after all! I know how she looks naked. The nasty voice replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world. In fact, perhaps it was one of the most natural things in the world.

Draco's eyes grew wide nevertheless and he asked in an unusually hoarse voice You do? Erm...no chance telling me?

No! Go look for yourself

Hey, what do you think of me?

Not much, to be honest. But she threw me out! Idiot girl! The conscious said indignantly

What, she threw you out? How did she do that? Draco tried to let his voice not sound too jealous.

No point trying to hide anything from me...I see all!

All? Everything? Like, say, see how I look naked?

Of course! I think I'll go now, Ginny's about to wake up. Oh, and, nice boxers!

Hey, no; no, stay, don't go! Don't you dare tell...hey! Hello...

No answer

Where are you? Come back you...please? You know I'm a lot more fun to be around than Weasley! But the conscious had gone.

And really, as it had predicted, Ginny woke up not much later, and Draco hoped that the goddamn conscious wouldn't spill his most private thoughts and secrets. He eyed Ginny, who was stretching her arms and yawning as if her life depend

When he awoke, Draco felt a lot better. Not strangely acting Weasley. She was sleeping, thank god. He felt like he couldn't bear a conversation with her at the moment.

Five minutes later he changed his mind. Hell, being beat up and imprisoned was boring!

Wake up Weasley, he thought, I'm bored!

Well, she won't wake up, I'm sure of that! She's sleeping like a baby. Needs her beauty sleep. Y'know, she'd look even worse if she didn't have it a rather familiar voice piped up in his mind. Weasley's conscious!

You just leave me alone! He snapped

But I thought you wanted to talk to her. The conscious replied smugly

No, I didn't

Yes, you did.

How the hell do you want to know that? Draco asked angrily.

I can see your thoughts!

You can what? Draco choked, mentally of course.

I can see your thoughts. The conscious repeated. Does this make you feel naked or something? It added hopefully.

Draco was meanwhile trying desperately not to imagine how he looked naked. This was typically human: somebody tells you he's gonna shove an ironing board up your ass crossways, and poof, this image pops up in your mind: you, standing in front of a mirror, tying desperately to hide those big bulges on both sides of your hips.

Does Weasley feel naked when you look at her thoughts? He asked with great effort.

She doesn't have to...I'm her conscious after all! I know how she looks naked. The nasty voice replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world. In fact, perhaps it was one of the most natural things in the world.

Draco's eyes grew wide nevertheless, and he asked in an unusually hoarse voice You do? Erm...no chance telling me?

No! Go look for yourself

Hey, what do you think of me?

Not much, to be honest. But she threw me out! Idiot girl! The conscious said indignantly

What, she threw you out? How did she do that? Draco tried to let his voice not sound too jealous.

No point trying to hide anything from me...I see all!

All? Everything? Like, say, see how I look naked?

Of course! I think I'll go now, Ginny's about to wake up. Oh, and, nice boxers!

Hey, no; no, stay, don't go! Don't you dare tell...hey! Hello...

No answer

Where are you? Come back you...please? You know I'm a lot more fun to be around than Weasley! But the conscious had gone.

And really, as it had predicted, Ginny woke up not much later, and Draco hoped that the goddamn conscious wouldn't spill his most private thoughts and secrets. He eyed her suspiciously, while she was stretching her arms and yawning as if her life depended on it.

AN: Just to your information: the situation the two of them are in at the moment is not very dangerous. They could escape easily, being wizards and all, but with Draco beaten up, Ginny just wanted to take a rest and so on. I just wanted to tell you this, because I think it may appear rather odd that they aren't the least bit worried.

I know it's 'I see everything' but I can't get the image from that scene from 'Rocky Horror Picture Show out' of my mind, where they sing the 'Time Warp', and Magenta says in this really mysterious/seducing/...? voice 'I see all'

Next chapter: their escape, a new companion, and Ginny gets really uncomfortable new shoes.

Thanks to my reviers, as always. I love you guys!!!! And even more thank yous for the suggestions of fairy tales. Even if there's still only 'Hansel and Gretel' in this chapter, there'll be also 'Peter Pan' and maybe something else in the next one. (at the moment it's only Peter, but well see, eh?)!

Rose Fay; SprklingSatine; Mel*Star; hopelesslydevoted2HP; §ämäѱhä; Quidditch Girl; jessicantspeak; MrsSpongeBob333, you guys rock!!!