One Dark and Stormy Night

One Dark and Stormy Night

'Could you cry a little?

Lie just a little?

Pretend that you're feeling just a little more pain.

I gave now I'm wanting

Something in return.

So cry just a little for me.'

~ Faith Hill, Cry

Dark storm clouds rolled over the castle. A large storm was brewing and it was already dark. A bright flash of lightning quickly lit up the sky before receding, leaving it dark again. A heartbeat. Another flash of light lit up the sky, but this time it was dimmer and reached only a small portion of the area around it, but in half of a second, the sky was dark once again.

'Seems like it's an electrical storm,' Ginny thought to herself. She groaned inwardly. Electrical storms always seemed to peeve her, especially when they came up unexpectedly. There was no rain, but bright flashes of light flashed every minute, in all corners of the sky.

Ginny was sitting in the North Tower, trying to do her astronomy homework. The entire ceiling was glass for the astronomy class and made the storm look even worse than it was. The room was circular, telescopes sitting in every spot around the edge of the room, leaving a large spot in the middle of the room where there were four large sofas and a large, square coffee table in the middle of them. She was sitting on the floor with her back up against one of the couches, facing the door, and her books spread out on the coffee table in front of her.

Another flash of lightning disrupted her from her homework and was quickly followed by a blinding bolt of lightning. Ginny shielded her eyes from the bright light and jumped when a voice spoke out from the entrance of the room.

"Scared, Wealsey?" a drawling voice asked. Ginny whipped her head up to see Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway of the room, one of his trademark smirks plastered on his face. His blonde hair was still slicked back with wizarding gel even though it was nighttime, and his robes stood open, revealing the standard Hogwarts uniform underneath.

"Why should I be?" Ginny asked, no great and witty comeback coming to mind. His smirk widened and he sauntered over to the nearest telescope. "Going to use a telescope, Malfoy? Are you that dumb?"

Draco looked at her then. He seemed quite calm although his smirk had died down somewhat. He pulled open one of the telescope's legs and a bunch of rolled-up maps fell out. "What does it look like, Weasel?"

Ginny blushed and looked down at her work. Draco smiled inwardly at his ability to get the youngest Weasley to blush. It actually looked very pretty on her--wait, did that come from Draco Malfoy? Was the youngest Weasley growing on him? 'Nonsense, she's rubbish,' Draco thought to himself, pushing the thoughts out of his head. He grabbed the maps from off the floor and brought them to the couch opposite from Ginny and sat down. He could feel a pair of eyes on him and he looked up, seeing Ginny watching him from on the floor.

"What are you staring at?" Draco asked, irritated suddenly.

Ginny cleared her throat nervously, controlling her blushing. "Nothing," she squeaked. "Just wondering why you have to do your studying here?"

Just then, a loud rumble of thunder was emitted overhead and more lightning flashed, filling up the whole sky. The heavens released a heavy downpour of rain which fell hard against the glass ceiling. Ginny looked up and noticed that Draco's eyes had remained on her. They locked eyes and she stared back defiantly. There was a moment's pause when the whole room was quiet except for the rain battering the windows. Finally, Draco answered her question, albeit sourly, "Just getting my work done."

Ginny looked up as more lightning flashed. Then, she brought her eyes back to him and asked, "But why here?"

"Well, it seems that the Slytherin common room doesn't have a sky," Draco retorted. "I would rather have a sky above me to look at, even if it is raining. Helps me to concentrate."

A comeback had just entered Ginny's mind and she smiled inwardly at her geniousness. Draco seemed a little bit off today and it would be great to catch him off guard. 'Well, he does look a little sad,' Ginny thought. 'Nonsense!' Ginny's devilish innervoice told her. 'He's still your enemy!'

"You know another place where there is a sky?" Ginny began her comeback, a smirk twisting her smile. "Outside! Because that's where you belong. Out in the rain."

Draco looked at her darkly and began to gather his things."That's it," he said, standing up. "I'm leaving." He started to leave, anger coursing through his veins that she was suggesting that he was an underling, and feeling uneasy when Ginny suddenly called out.

"Wait!" she yelled. He stopped and turned to look at her expectantly. Her smirk had disappeared and a blank expression replaced it. Under his heavy gaze, she looked down at her hands. Then, she gestured to the same couch that Draco had just deserted. "Sit. We could talk about the lastest hairstyles." Okay, she had to admit that the last comment was a little corny, but it certainly got a reaction from him. He went red and dumped his maps on the sofa, gesturing at her.

"You're the one to talk! Just look at your robes, Weasley. How many owners have your robes had? What do you think? 10? Could they possibly get any grubbier than they already are now?"

"Shut up," Ginny said through gritted teeth. But he kept going, on a roll.

"How many children has your mother had?" Draco asked, malice edging into his voice making it rough. "100? 200? Is she pregnant yet?"

"I said shut up!" Now, Ginny was furious and her ears where turning a purply-red.

"And your father, geez, what shall I say about him? Let's see. How much money exactly does your father get? You would at least think that your father, of all people, would be able to feed and clothe you properly. Oh wait! I guess he can't feed and clothe you all. I mean, sure, if there were only two children. But two hundred?"

"That's enough!" Ginny yelled. She jumped up and gathering up her things quickly, stalking out of the room. In the hallway, she suddenly stopped and looked back into the room. Draco sat back down and put his own maps back on the coffee table in front of him. Ginny seethed with rage and walked back in, settling her stuff on the table before coming to stand right in front of Draco. Without remembering her ring on her finger had the diamond on the inside of her right hand, she slapped Draco across the face. When she brought her hand back, she found that a streak of blood was on her hand. She looked at Draco's cheek and found that a line of blood ran from one end of the cheek to another.

"Oh my god," Ginny said, her rage collapsing suddenly. She sat down onto the table behind her, smoothing out the sheets underneath. Draco sat on the couch with his hand touching the wound, blood staining his fingers. "I'm so sorry."

He looked at her gingerly and brought his hand back down as if nothing had happened. She figured that Malfoys were toughened up to pain of any kind, but she put her head in her hands anyway. Another loud boom of thunder roared overhead.

"Don't pity yourself," Draco muttered, his voice low and careful. He raised a hand to touch her head in comfort, but didn't know if that was the right thing to do, being Draco Malfoy and all. He also didn't know if that was what she needed right now. "Look at me," he said, keeping his hand hovering above her head. She didn't respond, but Draco could tell that she wasn't crying, which he was thankful for. "Look at me!"

Ginny whipped her head up and smiled apologetically. He looked relieved and lowered his hand. "I'm still sorry," she said softly. "I'll never wear this ring again." She took the ring off and threw it at the fireplace. It pinged against the stone twice before landing on the floor in front of the fireplace. Then, she got up and went to collect her books. She went to the door and paused, looking back. He was sitting rigidly and staring straight ahead of him instead of turning to watch her leave. "Goodbye," she said. No response. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to Gryffindor Tower.

As soon as the last footfall bounced off the walls of the stairway outside the room up to Draco's ears, he got up and went over to the fireplace, picking up the ring that she had thrown there. It had a bit of soot and blood on it and part of the diamond was cracked, but he put it in his pocket anyway.

Back in Gryffindor Tower...

* She walked down one long hall. It was dark and misty. Old. Lightning. It flashed outside. She could feel it, but she couldn't see it. There were no windows here, just a bright light at the end of the corridor.

She reached for the light and her hand went through it. The white light turned orange suddenly and she walked all the way through it, finding herself immersed in water up to her knees. Suddenly, she felt drenched from head to toe, as if she had been swimming. Her clothes stuck to her body tightly and her hair was clumped together. She rubbed her right hand and suddenly her ring slipped off and into the water. She cursed and bent down to retrieve it but with no avail. Suddenly, she noticed that the water was starting to rise and straightened up. Deciding it would be better to get back into the other corridor, she turned and found herself suddenly in the North Tower.

Draco was sitting on the couch and Ginny was sitting on the table in front of him, her head in her hands. Draco had a long cut on the left cheek which had blood pouring down, but looked as if he didn't notice it. He spoke in a low voice, 'Don't pity yourself.' He raised a hand to touch her head, but kept it hovering over her, not sure of what to do. 'Look at me.' No response. 'Look at me!'

'I'll never wear this ring again,' Ginny said, taking the ring off and throwing it at the fireplace. Suddenly, Ginny disappeared and Draco stood up, looking at the fireplace. His movements slowed down until he froze in place, on his way to the fireplace. //...a line of blood ran...\

"Why?" she asked. Suddenly, another Draco appeared in front of her, challenging her with his gaze. *

Ginny woke up then, finding that it was still nighttime. She didn't remember any part of the dream except that she had lost her ring in the corridor with the water. Finding this odd, she got out of bed and put her robe on over her pajamas and left Gryffindor Tower not knowing she was going back to the North Tower, her feet padding softly on the cold floor. The thunder still crashed overhead, disturbing the silence of the corridor. Ginny couldn't tell if it was raining, but it might as well be if it was thundering outside.

Ginny let her feet bring her to the North Tower, not paying attention to where she was going. Several times she thought she heard a meow, but when she looked around, she didn't see any cats. After a while, she began to get more jumpy and jumped at the slightest noise, or thought that the hallway was about to fill with water for some reason.

Soon, she was opening the door to the North Tower slowly, making sure it didn't creak. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw that there was a sleeping form on the same sofa that it was on before.

Draco Malfoy.

Ginny crept closer cautiously, trying not to disturb Draco. She sat down on the couch opposite him again and looked around. It had stopped raining and only small, less powerful flashes of lightning could be seen. Star maps were spread all about the floor with only small paths to weave around them. Other than that, nothing else had changed.

She turned to Draco who was still sleeping soundlessly on the sofa. The candle's flame that he had been using to work under flickered and went out. He was still indifferent to his surroundings, so she made another flame appear on the candle. His face wore a mask of intense concentration, as if sleeping was hard for him. His blondish hair had finally began to fall out of place and into his eyes. He was curled up into a fetal position with his arms close to his chest. He looked like an angel, but was really quite the opposite, more of a fallen angel.

Ginny looked deeper into his expression. He looked a little vulnerable. This went against the fact that Malfoys are never vulnerable, never weak. She had heard Draco say earlier in their school year what the Malfoy Codes and Regulations were to his friends, bragging about it as if it was some sort of trait that made him more superior. He had to follow strict rules that would make him into a Death Eater, just like his father. There were no other choices for him. Ginny felt sorry for him. He didn't get to choose who he was, it was chosen for him, right from the beginning. Ginny had a choice and was glad because of it.

Draco's eyes suddenly flew open and he sat upright. She leaned back into her couch nervously, expecting Draco to order her out, insults flying. Instead, he just looked at her for a moment, neither moving nor speaking. She couldn't read his expression since he kept his emotions hidden but kept eye contact with him. She waited tensely with wide eyes before he spoke.

"What are you doing here?" he asked softly. It was a simple question, but there was no emotion in it.

"I had a nightmare and I ended up here without knowing it," she said quietly.

"Oh," he said simply before leaning back into his sofa, closing his eyes. Ginny looked at him, surprised.

"That's it?" she asked. "There's nothing more you're going to say to me?"

"Nope," he said without opening his eyes. "There isn't anything else to say."

"You're not going to throw insults at me for being here?"

His eyes flew open and a quiet rage burned inside of them, but as soon as Ginny saw it, he hid it quickly. "No," he said in a calm voice. "I won't."

"I don't understand-" Ginny began, but he interupted her loudly.

"Leave it!" he chided. When a silence fell upon the pair, he lay back down on the couch and closed his eyes again.

Lightning flashed up above again, this time stronger, and Ginny hugged herself, shivering. She certainly hadn't expected that to happen. Suddenly feeling restless, she got up and went to look at one of the maps on the floor. He had opened his eyes to watch her without her knowing it and she continued on as if nothing had happened.

Draco looked at her for a second, realizing that she was beautiful. Her flaming hair cascaded about her shoulders like strands of fire. Her brown eyes sparkled in the flashes of lightning. He could just barely see her curves, but knew she had them. Sighing, Draco sat up and pointed his wand at the fireplace by the door, flames springing to the hearth. Ginny gasped and whipped around to look at him. He gave her a small smile and lay back down.

Ginny unconsciously bit her lip. Had he just been staring at her? Or was he just afraid of the dark? Frankly, she didn't see how Draco could be afraid of the dark given what he was and that a candle was still lit. When he opened his eyes again, she turned around quickly, trying not to seem like she was staring at him herself. He took no notice however and had his eyes closed when she turned back around to look at him.

Feeling tired, she got up and sat down on a couch next to Draco and curled up to go to sleep. The thunder storm had come back and it was now raining soft and evenly at the glass-ceiling up above. The rain sung a lullaby to her and she soon fell soundly asleep.

Little did each know that a coal from the fire had gotten loose and fallen onto the floor. Some of the maps that lay nearby were ignited quickly. Soon, the fire was spreading so that it formed a semi-circle around the sofas, almost blocking the exit. The fire engulfed one of the telescopes which fell down with a loud crash to the floor.

Draco's eyes snapped open at the sound of the telescope falling and he immediately began to cough from the rising smoke. He got down on his knees and quickly salvaged what was left of the maps and rolled them up. He suddenly remembered Ginny and looked around for her. She was curled up on a sofa. He scrambled over to her and tried to wake her up but to no avail.

"Dammit, Weasley, wake up," he muttered. He looked up at the ceiling, which was glass and was the only place to get some heavy water: the rain. It would be dangerous, but there wasn't much else to do. He lay a map, unrolled, over Ginny's sleeping form and got under one himself. Then, using a spell, he broke the ceiling.

Glass splintered and gave way in a groan. The shattered pieces of glass fell down onto the room, the larger pieces fortunately missing both Ginny and Draco. When all the glass had fallen, Draco shook off the maps trying to get rid of the glass and rolled them back up. Then, he stuffed them under his left arm and picked Ginny up with his right, straining his muscles. The smoke had been becoming overwhelming, but now, with new air coming from outside, a load was taken off of Draco's lungs and he was able to pull Ginny out the door. He dumped the maps on the floor in a corner away from the door and lay Ginny down.

He went to stand in the doorway of the room, watching the rain begin to pummel the fire out. A loud boom of thunder erupted from the sky, shaking the castle and unleashing heavy torrents of rain down upon the room. Draco couldn't believe he had just saved someone. This was something he had never done in his entire life and something he was expected to never do. But boy, did it feel good.

A small cough came from behind him and he went to aide Ginny in getting up. She bent over, still coughing, and then looked into the room, surprised.

"What happened?" she asked croakily.

"I don't know," Draco responded truthfully, going to stand at the door again. "And that's the truth."

She looked at him hard before saying, "I know, Draco. I believe you." She came to stand beside him at the doorway and then asked, "Aren't you supposed to go get the Headmaster when there's a fire?"

"And leave you here, not knowing what the fire was going to do?" Draco asked her. "I may be Draco Malfoy, but I'm not that stupid. Besides, I used a spell to break the ceiling so that the rain would put out the fire."

"Oh," she said. For awhile, they didn't say anything to each other. Each just stood, watching the fire start to go out and the rain soak everything in the room. Then, as only a little bit of fire remained, Ginny walked slowly inside and into the rain, letting it wash over her. Draco followed, a bit reluctantly, and kept watch of the fire. He took out his wand and uttered a spell that put out the smaller fires with streams of water. Only a few fires remained and soon those were put out too. Ginny suddenly remembered her ring and ran to the fireplace to look around for it.

She put out the fire and used a light to look in the soot, but didn't find anything. "What are you looking for?" Draco asked, coming to stand behind her.

"That ring that I threw over here," she said. "I didn't really mean to throw it away. I just wasn't going to wear it anymore."

"I don't know. Maybe you should keep wearing it," Draco told her honestly, a hand in his pocket.

"Well, I wouldn't be able to wear it if I don't find it," Ginny wailed, patting the soaked ground to look for her ring.

"Hey," Draco said, turning her around and taking her right hand. He took something out of his pocket and slipped it on her finger and patted it. "There you are. Now, you can wear it."

Ginny gasped and looked at the ring on her finger. It was sooty, bloody, and the diamond was a little chipped but it was the same ring she had threw over to the fireplace. She looked up at Draco and said, "Thank you. For saving it, I mean."

Draco smiled one of those rare smiles that have never been seen in public and pulled her up by the hand. "No problem."

The pair walked back out of the room and into the hall where the stairs were. They both sat down and said nothing.

*

Draco woke up with the sun shining in his eyes, but he was not sleeping on a comfortable couch. He was sleeping on an uncomfortable stone floor. He got up and stretched, trying to get the knots out of his back from sleeping in such a position. He looked down to see Ginny also sleeping that way and bent down to pick her up and bring her inside the room and place her on a sofa that hadn't caught fire. She shifted uneasily on the couch before going back to sleep again. He then walked over to the fireplace and looked around for any clues that may suggest what had started the fire. He wanted to know why the path of his destiny changed so abruptly that night. He no longer wanted to follow in his father's footsteps on the road that was chosen for him. He now wanted to make his own destiny and be something else after Hogwarts. Of course, he would be disowned, but when you're a Malfoy, you've always got tricks up your sleeve. He smiled at the thought.

He noticed a tiny bit of coal lying near the fireplace, surrounded by burnt pieces of paper. He picked it up and looked at it, turning it over in his hand. The couch shifted behind him and he turned to see Ginny stand up, stretching. She looked at him and he looked back.

"So, was this all a dream?" Ginny asked. "Your being nice to me and all?"

"No," Draco said, looking down at the coal. "I don't think it was a dream."

She beckoned to him with open arms and they hugged while she said, "Welcome to my side."

The sun poured down onto them, warming the room up. Ginny didn't know why she had hugged him, but when they broke apart, she could almost see a spark linger between them. She smiled up at him and he smiled back. Then out of nowhere came a thought into her head saying, 'Go for it! He's single.' She frowned inwardly at the thought and looked up at him again. He was off in his own little world, probably thinking about something that didn't involve her. She suddenly stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. He jumped at the sudden touch but returned the kiss. She broke away breathing heavily after a few seconds, but he grabbed her arms and pulled her back in. The kiss was tentative at first, but then it became more passionate. Then, breaking apart, he linked his arm in her's and they walked out of the room together to go find the Headmaster and tell him what happened.

The piece of coal lay forgotten on the floor by the fireplace. The room was now looking as if a disaster had struck. Glass was scattered all over the floor and a couch was burnt on one side. The rest of the floor that wasn't covered by glass had blackened and some telescopes had been destroyed while others still had a chance to be fixed. The maps that couldn't be salvaged had burned to crisps on the floor.

The End