Poisoned

Chapter Five

Where Ginny practices Quidditch, analyses Draco's beauty and wishes for something more (not that she admits it, of course)

Finally Thursday night came, and with it, the Gryffindor Quidditch team practice. Ginny had spent the entire lunchtime chatting with her friends about the most popular topic of conversation in Hogwarts nowadays - Draco and Pansy's break-up - and because of that she had to spend the afternoon struggling with the Herbology essay she had to hand in the next day.

Which explained why she ran to the Quidditch pitch half an hour late, completely out of breath and ready to hear a lecture from Harry with Ron close behind, supporting his friend's arguments with facial expressions and head shakes - oh, yes, she'd seen it all before.

Ginny had had an inability of arriving on time since forever. First of all, it's not simple to be the youngest girl in a small house full of testosterone, where she shared a bathroom with six boys and wrestled for food every mealtime. When she was still young, she cried because she always ended up with the smallest piece of cake and the least appealing chicken leg, but as time went by she conformed to being the last one to take a shower. It lasted only until she got smart enough to use her small size to her advantage - and it was good to be underestimated because her brothers would never think she was capable of winning over them, which made it easier.

The problem was that until she got herself up for The Burrow's competition of smartness and quickness - where calling for Mum was always considered forfeit -, being late had already became a bad habit. Getting used to arriving on time for classes in her first year in Hogwarts had been a heroic struggle that apparently no teacher cared for. Of course being possessed by You-Know-Who and losing time didn't help either, but she'd rather not think of that.

The problem is that the team hadn't seemed very supportive of her best effort to show up on time for practices, what amazed her because Harry and Ron had been through their OWLs, so they knew how much effort one must put into it.

"I studied twice as hard as you and I've always made it on time for practice, Ginny," Ron corrected her after she presented her arguments.

"But that was just because you were too afraid you'd be a worse keeper than you already were if you didn't practice," she tried to reason.

Unfortunately that was the wrong thing to say, and she realised it as she watched Ron's face grow purple and his eyes widened in reproach while Harry looked the other way, as if he hadn't taken part of that conversation so far.

"And when exactly are you studying, huh, Ginny?" Her brother seemed terribly wretched now, and was definitely playing low. "I rarely ever see you with a book in your hands! You use your spare time to gossip with those girls in your year!"

"That's not fair!" she shouted, amazed of how unreasonable he was. The best pieces of gossip always came from the girls in his year and he knew it.

"Yes, well, let's not delay our practice any longer, alright?" Harry tried to contemporise as he noticed the rest of the team was already trying to fly closer to them in order to hear their argument better.

As soon as he had said that, he flew away from the two siblings; Ron soon followed, even though it seemed he still had several things to say. Ginny knew she would have to listen to an enraged brother who would ask why she decided to join the team if she was not ready to compromise.

She told herself that the expectation of a quarrel with Ron had been the reason she spent the entire practice with her mind somewhere else, but she knew it was a lie. Quidditch always made her feel better; when practice started, she would focus on the Quaffle and forget about everything else. But that evening she just wanted practice to end so she could ask Harry about their schedule and owl Malfoy.

Just because she wanted practice to finish, time seemed to pass slower than usual. After one hour she felt like she had spent three hours practicing and was tired and grumpy when she finally approached Harry. He looked puzzled while promising her he wouldn't change their schedule. "Is it because you're worried about the OWLs?" When she agreed, he smiled. "Don't worry, I arranged the evenings so practices won't interfere with our studying."

She sure hoped so when she woke up earlier on Friday, still feeling tired and grumpy and went to the Owlery only to find Draco already there, looking gorgeous and unattainable.

She believed that was why every girl in school drooled over him - whether they admitted it or not. It wasn't because he was tall, blond and handsome, as a Hufflepuff girl once described him to a taunting Gryffindor; it was because he had a kind of beauty that seemed immaculate and untouchable. And that was the trick, because he could be touched. Girls would memorize his schedule just to walk through the corridors at the same time he would and try to bump into him so they could feel him somehow - Ginny herself had considered doing the same thing, just to convince herself it wasn't impossible. But no matter how many times girls would do it, the feeling wouldn't go away. Somehow, he couldn't be really touched for he was beyond anyone's reach.

Just like then, standing by the entrance of the Owlery, a few steps in front of her, yet completely out of reach. Simply unattainable.

And looking at her as if she was the most predictable girl in the world.

She didn't say anything; just handed him the parchment she was holding and watched him read it, taking her time to try and analyse his beauty some more. But he soon looked back to her and said, "I see Potter arranged for practice on Saturday mornings."

"Yes," she groaned, still sleepy and thinking that she would have to wake up early again the next day. "And it's the worst thing he could have done."

"Not really," he disagreed, folding the parchment and putting in pocket. "I've thought about arranging practices for Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings. It will be good to inspire some sense of responsibility in the team."

"I have enough sense of responsibility!"

"I was talking about the Slytherin team." He smirked. "I'm sure you're responsible enough, after waking this early so I could receive your owl first thing in the morning. Well done, Weasley."

She blushed, something that was very unusual of her when she wasn't near Harry, but he didn't seem to notice and stated while walking away from her. "I'll talk to Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick so we can begin next Wednesday."

And he left after a small bow with his head that seemed to mean "see you soon" in Malfoy's language. But it wasn't enough for Ginny, who was left with the feeling of something missing; like she needed some sort of closure of that meeting, since it seemed to represent a part of her life she was leaving behind.

She wondered why she kept feeling as if some drastic change would occur while she headed to the Great Hall for breakfast, thinking it wouldn't be long until Wednesday and feeling excited by this thought.