Poisoned

Chapter Six

Where Draco and Ginny start their lessons, feel the improvement and flirt a little before Ginny get disappointed

"Please, stop!" Ginny screamed and collapsed on the floor after Draco drew back his wand.

She was panting, feeling as if her chest would explode. Draco kneeled down beside her and said, "You have to try and disarm me, Weasley. Use the expelliarmus, stun me, whatever, you have to take my wand away from me so I can't do you any more harm. You can't just stand there and wait for my curse."

"I know," she managed to say between gasps, "but you are too fast."

"Well, let's make you faster, then. Stand up."

"No!" she exclaimed, kneeling with difficulty and taking the hand he was offering so she could stand up. "Please, I need a few minutes."

He didn't say anything, but helped her sit down in a chair in the corner of the almost empty classroom they were using. It had been three weeks already since they'd started, and they would meet there every Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoon. Friday evenings were used for Potions, so then they could be found in the dungeons, in the Potions classroom that Professor Snape reluctantly had allowed them to use.

Well, to say they "could be found" would be a lie. They always charmed the door so no one could see or hear anything from outside, what guaranteed they wouldn't be disturbed by the students walking around in the corridors even when they were not supposed to.

So far, they were both improving considerably. They had studied the theories together and had already moved on to practical exercises. Draco was the one in charge of charming the doors and he was doing a remarkable job. Not to mention he could now conjure things with considerable precision, something he couldn't a few days before. And that week he had stated that Ginny was very close to not melting or exploding the cauldron, which made her ecstatically happy.

Defence Against the Dark Arts proved to be more difficult, though. Draco would curse her so easily and she hadn't being able to disarm him so far. It had been so much easier the previous year; Michael didn't seem to mind being disarmed and hexed repeatedly by her, while Draco was putting in his best effort not to let her do so.

"Maybe I just can't do it." She sighed, gloomy.

"Of course you can do it." He dismissed her comment with a shake of his head. "You're just not putting yourself in to it. Every time we try Defence Against the Dark Arts, your mind seems to be somewhere else completely."

He wasn't really wrong about it. DADA gave him a stern look that entranced her. He seemed so focused and so restrained she couldn't help but feel hypnotised. His gestures were so elegant, nothing like the "foolish wand-waving" description Snape had given in the beginning of her first year - that she soon found out he repeated every year - and came to her mind every time she was practising Charms. She loved those 'foolish wand-wavings,' but in Draco it didn't seem foolish at all.

That and the fact that, somehow, Draco had always brought out her worst side. And what she called her worst side wasn't exactly her angry side, it was more of a state of anger she couldn't really escape, and she didn't know how to manage. He brought up an anger that she couldn't control, nor work out. Just like the first time they'd ever met, at Flourish and Blotts, back to her first year. He had insulted Harry, and she had stood up for him, saying something she couldn't even remember, but it was meant as a threat. But should she have to continue, she wouldn't know what to do.

Because something in him kept her off balance, and blocked the reactions she should have. He made her lose words, skip actions, and stop thinking. She could manage to hide her entrancement when she was guiding him through Charms, but not at DADA, and she was afraid he was realising it.

"It's just that it brings back bad memories," she said but soon regretted it after remembering that the night that could bring her bad memories was the same night when Draco's father had been arrested.

"I don't believe you." His eyes were a darker shade of grey, but he seemed unperturbed. "You're too sensible to give in to any kind of memory."

She looked at him surprised and saw him smile at her, teasingly. "Are you flirting with me, Malfoy?" Ginny asked, eyeing him suspiciously but barely hiding a smile.

"Of course," he mocked. "Nothing wins a girl's heart like cursing her until she begs you to stop." He stood up and offered his hand to help her. "Now let's start again, for we are not leaving this room until you manage to expelliarmus me at least once."

*~~*~~*~~*~~*

It had taken her four hours to finally produce a response to any of Malfoy's curses. She had sent him flying across the room and surprised him by levitating him fast enough so he wouldn't fall to the floor and hurt himself. She had been very proud of herself, and he seemed very proud of her as well, and when she remembered it, her stomach seemed to swirl.

What amazed her was that they would act like complete strangers during the day. To anyone it would seem like they didn't know each other, but secretly they felt like they were getting to know each other better than anyone else. She didn't know, but it felt strange to him as well to pretend nothing had changed.

She could only wonder if those evenings meant as much to him as they meant to her. She loathed Mondays even more now, because it meant two days of no secret escapades. Those days passed by her almost too slowly for her to bear; and when she wasn't focused on classes or Quidditch practice she would allow herself to be lost in thought, just as she was that instant before she heard, "Oh oh something wicked this way comes..."

Ginny stopped walking and looked around, trying to imagine what Colin was talking about, but soon she spotted Malfoy, Parkinson and Goyle walking to their direction.

Luna sighed and looked to the skies, as if she didn't care if the horsemen of the Apocalypse would come their way, but this time it was almost as if she was waiting for something and just didn't want to show it.

"I thought you said he was a tortured boy." Ginny remembered, cringing to the walls, hoping they wouldn't see her; suddenly feeling too weak to look at him.

"Can't a person be wicked and tortured at the same time?" She heard him ask, as the group passed through them, Goyle making sure to push her harshly to the ground.

She didn't hear the laughter she expected to, as she sat there on the ground, her knees hurting from the fall, her books lying all around her. She sensed Colin beside her, cursing Goyle under his breath, but all she could do was look at Malfoy's back, full of disgust and pain, wondering what made him so cruel, when he glanced at her direction - a quick glance, but a meaningful one.

Almost as if he was asking her if she was alright.

"Yes."

That woke her up from her thoughts, and made Colin and Ginny stare at Luna, both of them puzzled.

"That Malfoy boy can be wicked and tortured at the same time." She waited for Ginny to get up to hand her the books she had gathered. Ginny thanked her slowly, searching Luna's eyes for a sign that she knew something, but she soon gazed away, her eyes on the skies again.

"One would think pushing people shorter than you would loose its fun when you turn twelve," Colin said and they resumed walking, "but not when you're Goyle, of course."

But it wasn't Goyle's childish attitude that had bothered Ginny. She was hurt because that quick event reminded her of the old Malfoy - the boy she tried to fool herself that didn't exist anymore, but now she had to recognize he was there; although not hurting them himself, his presence could be felt in his friends.

It was strange, because he wouldn't talk about his friends, and when he occasionally did, it wasn't with any respect or the kind of camaraderie one would expect. Draco demeaned his friends, using them as examples of stupid or vulgar behaviour. Ginny once had asked, "If you think so ill of them, why do you spend time with them?"

Draco didn't face her and didn't answer, because he didn't want to confess he didn't have anyone else to spend time with. He didn't even want anyone to know he was feeling out of place, although on another occasion he hadn't been able to control his mouth and asked her, "What can you do if you don't know what you're supposed to do anymore?"

There was no way of her to know that this small question asked while they practiced a Forgetful Potion was the answer to her enquiry, so the lack of a response from him caused Ginny to try to find an answer for herself, and the only thing that came to her mind was that he would still control his friends, who didn't seem able to think for themselves and seemed happy to let Draco do it for them.

"Isn't it funny how time seems to stop in the corridors when Malfoy and his friends walk by?" Luna commented, looking dispassionate, even though she was eyeing Ginny with faint interest.

Ginny knew Luna could see the hurt in her eyes, but she trusted the girl wouldn't ask questions. Colin, bless him, was oblivious to anything else and pondered about her question. "You know, that's true. And it's funny how he seems quite relaxed for such a hated guy. I can't understand how he can keep himself so calm with all the people around him shooting angry glances and expressing their desire to take a piece of him." Luna and Ginny exchanged amused looks, obviously not thinking of what he meant, so he quickly corrected, "Literally take a piece of him. Especially the heart, although an ear, his nose, or even a toe would satisfy some people." He seemed to ponder some more and completed, "Assuming, of course, it was still bleeding."

"I don't think the majority of glances cast towards him are of anger," Luna considered. "In our common room all the girls talk about is how he has broken up with Pansy and how he has grown up lovely." She went back to her dreamy face. "I don't know what they see, though."

Ginny suppressed her laugh and looked away so her friend wouldn't see it. She has always suspected Luna had a peculiar crush on Ron. When Ginny told her she could call him 'Ron' like everyone did, the girl had sighed dreamily and said, "But 'Ronald' is such a beautiful name." And when talking about Harry with Ginny, she would call him 'your brother's friend' or 'Ronald's friend.' "Your brother's friend is not very happy this year," she had stated a few weeks ago after Harry had passed by them, and considering Luna knew Harry's name, she could only imagine why she would speak like that.

Of course Colin was oblivious to that too, and after agreeing with Luna that there was nothing to see in Malfoy, he said, "By the way, have any of you prepared anything for Halloween?" After looking at Ginny's confused face and Luna's blank face, he continued, "I'm going as a vampire."

"I didn't know we had to wear costumes for tonight!" Ginny exclaimed in panic.

"It's not mandatory," Luna explained and Ginny let out a sigh of relief, "but Dumbledore told us to do our best to enjoy ourselves."

"Yes, he said that in dark times we should appreciate every special occasion we have," Colin said, "and he did suggest for us to go in costumes."

Halloween that year was being treated with more concern and pageantry than in other years. Everyone was talking about the surprise Dumbledore was preparing for it. They all knew the ghosts would perform their deaths, and although she had missed it when Nearly Headless Nick performed his death in her first year, Ginny couldn't help but feel it wouldn't be terrible exciting.

They also knew the elves were preparing what some have said to be the greatest Hogwarts meal of all times, and that alone was worth checking out, but it seemed that the surprise Dumbledore was planning had something to do with a ball. If nothing else had grabbed people's attention, that certainly did, and nobody could talk of anything else those days.

But Ginny was still feeling uncomfortably uninterested when they split to go to their classes, Colin heading to Arithmancy while Ginny and Luna would go to Care of Magical Creatures, when in the middle of the corridor he turned to them and shouted, "Don't forget to prepare for Halloween!"

Several students cheered, but Ginny just wished she would feel more excited about the evening.