Saint-Seducing Gold

Chapter Four: In Consequence

"Where the devil should this Romeo be - came he not home tonight?"

-----

Draco was having an absurd dream about kissing Ginny Weasley and liking it, when he awoke to the sound of voices above him. Confused, his head aching horribly for some reason that he couldn't quite fathom, he squinted one grey eye open. And gave a strangled scream of horror when he realized that he was lying in a dark basement with one of Ginny Weasley's hands resting on his chest.

He leapt to his feet like a singed cat and began to frantically question himself. "I didn't--we didn't--this isn't--" And then he bent over double with a moan of pain. "Urgh... My head..."

Luckily for him, along with the rush of hangover aching, Draco had also managed to remember exactly what had happened the night before. He slowly sat himself on the ground and dropped his head into his hands with a very heartfelt groan of despair and another wince of pain. This is awful, this is terrible, this is--

His eyes caught Ginny's still-sleeping form. She had rolled over when Draco jumped up and her arms were wrapped tight across her chest in an attempt to keep herself warm without him next to her. Quite suddenly, Draco began to remember something else about last night. He remembered happiness, wonderfully buoyant happiness that had made him feel as though he need never return to the rest of the world as long as Ginny was with him. She had made him forget about his troubles with Parvati, made him forget the woeful parts of being Lucius Malfoy's only son, and made him forget the expectations of his House and his peers.

Not to say that Draco had been an unhappy person before he had met with Ginny last night. Draco shook his head forcefully and almost cried with the pain it brought. Well, okay, maybe he had been unhappy and hadn't even known it. It just seemed that now, the thought of going back to Hogwarts and facing all those everyday struggles without this balance of happiness that he had unexpectedly found in her, was practically unbearable.

He looked at Ginny again. Why was this suddenly happening to him? He didn't need her, she was a Weasley, and a Gryffindor, and, above all, a girl, and he had never needed anyone to keep him happy. He glared at her freckles and red hair and fumed at the voice in his head that was trying to remind him what it had been like to kiss her. Remember, it taunted him jeeringly, that delicious taste, that electric feeling of rightness, those fiery lips pressed against your own? Draco swiped the air with an angry hand; he did not want to remember. But, against his will, he was remembering. And he didn't only remember the kissing. He remembered them talking. They had talked for what seemed like hours about each other and love and life in general and it had been fantastic conversation. He remembered them having more in common than ought to have been possible. He especially remembered how they had agreed that to be shot down callously by someone - when they were being the brave ones by talking to them in the first place! - was really quite unfair. To put it mildly.

Draco groaned again. This was unfair. He shouldn't feel the need for a connection with this girl and she shouldn't be able to wield this kind of power over his thoughts when she was just sleeping.

The voices overhead suddenly grew loud enough for him to hear.

"...and two more crates of Chocolate Frogs! We've run out again!"

"All right, all right! Keep your shirt on."

And then, he heard heavy footsteps and the sound of a door opening. A thick shaft of yellow light sliced into the relative darkness of the basement. Panicking, Draco scrambled to Ginny's side and shook her shoulder.

"Wake up!" he hissed. "We have to get out of here!"

The Gryffindor shrugged off his touch and asked, "Get out of w-w-where?" with a yawn, her eyes blinking rather groggily.

"This basement!" Draco fell to searching for his cloak, which he couldn't find for some odd reason.

"Basement?" Draco stopped to look at Ginny because of the sharpness in her tone. He saw her eyes widen in remembrance.

"Oh no," she whispered. "Oh no. What have I--" Her eyes landed on Draco and she uttered a tiny shriek of terror. Leaping to her feet even faster than Draco had earlier, she grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and her bag up off the floor, still staring at him. "I, we, I mean... Oh hell." She passed a hand over her eyes in anguish. And then she gave him another frightened look. "I have to go," she said in a peculiar voice. And before Draco could manage to say anything, she had thrown the Invisibility Cloak over her shoulders and disappeared.

He stood for a moment, stunned, and staring at the spot where he had just seen Ginny. The sounds of the man at the foot of the stairs startled him back to reality.

"Ginny!" he whispered anxiously, eyes darting in hopes of catching some kind of sign where she had gone, or if she was even still there. "Ginny, you have to help me!" he went on in a low voice, feeling somewhat hysterical.

"Who's there?" a sudden voice called from the other end of the basement. A light flashed in Draco's direction but he ducked before it could reveal him.

"Merlin," he breathed to himself, crawling behind a stack of crates and trying very hard not to whimper in pain and fear. "This is not my morning."

Apparently, the man had lost interest in his suspicion because he didn't pursue his query farther than the initial sweep of light. Draco breathed several long sighs of relief and went back to searching for his cloak, wondering, with a certain amount of despair, how he was going to get out of Honeydukes without being seen. He found the cloak on the ground where Ginny had been sleeping. It seemed that she had been using it as a makeshift mattress. Muttering to himself, he pulled it on and took his wand out of one of its pockets.

Listening until he was sure the man had gone back upstairs, Draco ignited his wand with a mumbled, "Lumos!" and began to search for a way out besides the obvious door at the top of the stairs.

-----

Ginny cursed at herself as she was hurrying back along the tunnel to Hogwarts. She was so stupid! How could she have ever decided to even go to that bar last night? And, as stupid as she had been to do that, how could she have been even stupider and left the bar with Malfoy? Oh, Merlin, was she in trouble now! She must be going mad; the shock of Colin and Catherine had addled her brains. Oh, Merlin, Merlin, Merlin...

Several long and agonizing minutes of self-abuse later, Ginny was slipping out from behind the one-eyed witch statue. She had resolved to forget the whole thing happened. In fact, she thought, as she was rushing down the corridors toward the Great Hall, as soon as she got the chance she was going to erase that entry out of her journal. She didn't ever want to see Malfoy or his enigmatic grey eyes ever again!

Fortunately, she was not that late for breakfast. She combed at her hair with slightly trembling fingers and sat down next to Hermione.

"Good morning," the older girl greeted her pleasantly as Ginny set her bag on the table. Hermione tilted her head at her. "Is something wrong? You look all flushed."

"Oh no, Hermione, I'm okay," Ginny said, a bit too fast. Hermione gave her a curious look as the redhead grabbed a glass of water and began to drink.

"You're not sick or anything? I have a potion with me that you might find useful..."

"No, no." Ginny tried at a smile as she said, "Really, I'm okay. I was just running here because I woke up late."

Hermione gave her a dubious look, probably because it was the weekend, but nodded and went back to eating. Ginny, who had just registered that the pounding between her eyes must be the result of all the alcohol from the previous night, downed the rest of her water and wondered who she could ask for an antidote. She scanned her fellow students but found she wasn't even seriously considering asking any of them. They would pose too many questions that she didn't care to answer.

She sighed and pulled her journal out of her bag, ready to perform that erasing spell, when her eyes caught sight of someone entering the hall. It was Draco.

Telling herself to look away or to look at anything but him, she watched as he crept along the wall, every now and then stopping to put a hand against the stones in order to steady himself. He looked awful. Much worse, she mused, than herself. His perfect silver-blonde hair was hopelessly mussed, he bore dark circles beneath his eyes, and his robes were very rumpled. She wondered, with an absent smile, why he hadn't fixed himself up before coming to the Great Hall. People were going to ask him quite a lot of questions...

Ginny realized that Draco had stopped in his progress along the wall and was staring straight at her. For a moment, she stared back; trying to interpret what he was feeling, and then she came to herself and pulled her eyes away. Staring down at her journal she softly berated herself under her breath.

"Did you say something?"

Ginny glanced up with a start.

"What? Oh... No, Hermione. I didn't say anything..."

-----

"Draco!" Pansy shrieked as the Slytherin boy sank into his seat. "What happened to you?"

Draco made a face. "Not so loud, please," he muttered, touching his forehead.

"Here." Grahm leaned across the table and handed Draco a goblet of smoking purple liquid. "You could probably use this."

Draco took it with a thankful look and drank. It tasted putrid but he could already feel his hangover lifting.

"What happened last night, mate?" Blaise asked, leaning on an elbow and resting his chin in a hand. Others around them fell quiet, prepared to listen. They'd all obviously been waiting for him to show up with an explanation. But somehow, Draco found himself in no mood for explaining anything.

"Nothing," he said shortly. "I just decided I'd go for a walk before we came back."

Grahm and Blaise exchanged looks. Draco scowled at them and pushed his goblet away across the table.

"Did you... get lost?" Blaise asked with an arched brow. Draco scowled deeper.

"Listen," he hissed, leaning toward the dark-haired boy. "I didn't ask for you two to follow me last night."

Grahm gave Blaise a grin. "C'mon, Blaisey boy. Let's drop it. He'll come 'round later." Blaise frowned at Grahm and gave Draco a narrow look. Draco, thoroughly pissed off now, met his look with one of ice-cold fury, and Blaise drew back. Finally, the other boy shrugged and picked up a forkful of egg. Draco folded his arms and tilted back in his chair with satisfaction.

"Mr. Malfoy. If I could have a word with you in private?" Draco looked up to see Professor Snape standing in front of him and wearing a grimace.

"Of course, Professor," Draco said, halfway relieved to be leaving his friends behind anyway. He gave them all a final look of severity before he left with Snape.

Surprisingly, when they got out into the hallway, Professor McGonagall was standing there. And, beside her, with a slightly fearful look on her pale face, was Ginny Weasley.

Draco recoiled. "What's this about, Professor?" he asked reproachfully, wondering how on Earth someone could have found out. He was almost certain that nobody had seen him leaving that odd witch statue behind.

"The Headmaster has requested to see you both," McGonagall informed him with a sniff.

"Why--" Draco began but Snape interrupted him.

"Your excursions last night did not go unnoticed," the sallow-skinned man said coldly. Draco, used to Snape being rather friendly with him, was taken aback at the elder's anger.

He gave both professors a spiteful look. "What? Are we going to be expelled?"

"Hardly," McGonagall said with a sharp look. "Follow me, both of you."

Leaving Snape behind, the two teenagers trailed after the Transfiguration teacher as she led them up to Dumbledore's office. After the password was given ("Canary Cream!") McGonagall rounded on them both.

"I want you to understand the severity of this situation," she said piercingly. "As Professor Dumbledore will undoubtedly tell you, you have both crossed the line too far this time. Mr. Malfoy, I expect more out of the school's Head Boy. And Ms. Weasley, I certainly expect more out of a Gryffindor. I shall be severely disappointed in both of you if you fail to comply with the school rules from now on."

Draco and Ginny both stared at her, slightly stunned by her sudden tirade. Professor McGonagall stared back for a moment, until, apparently satisfied, she pointed to the stairs.

"Well, go on then. He's waiting for you."

They didn't speak to each other on the stairs and as soon as they reached the top, Ginny opened the door. Draco wondered if she was trying to not to talk to him, or if she just wanted to get things over and done with.

But he didn't have much more time for wondering. Dumbledore was indeed waiting for them, and Draco found himself swiftly seated next to Ginny, facing the Headmaster at his desk.

"Well," Dumbledore said with some finality to his tone as he stared at them. He folded his hands together and surveyed them calmly, blue eyes searching their faces.

"I expect that Professor McGonagall has informed you why you are here," he said at last. He began to shuffle through papers on his desk, no longer looking at them. Draco felt just a tiny bit of pressure rise from his chest. He hadn't realized that merely being stared at could make you feel like you were being grilled by a man with a hot poker. A man who wasn't afraid to use that poker.

"I must say that I am most disappointed with both of you."

Beside him, Ginny let out a small sigh.

Dumbledore went on. "You are both well aware of our school rules detailing that no student is to leave Hogwarts grounds without permission. And you both not only flaunted that rule last night, but took it to the limit by staying out all night and returning--" He fixed them both with a sudden and piercing look. "--hung-over."

Draco almost opened his mouth to tell the Headmaster that dozens of other students had been at the Drowned Rat last night, but wisely decided against it when he realized that would simply reveal their haven.

"I do not think that either of you requires a further lecture in how to behave yourselves. You both understand what you have done wrong and know how to correct it in the future. As punishment, you will both be serving detention with Professor Snape at six o'clock tomorrow night. I believe he will be having you clean the dungeons. They are unexpectedly dirty after only a week of school due to a few accidents committed by the first-years." For a moment, Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I expect you will both appreciate the regular work of the House Elves after tomorrow evening.

"This punishment shall be more than enough for Ms. Weasley--" Ginny gave a start. "But you, Mr. Malfoy, are Head Boy, and should have a little more compunction about breaking school rules." Draco lowered his eyes and stared at the ground. He felt very, and quite uncharacteristically, ashamed. "It has therefore been decided that you shall also miss the Halloween Feast at the end of October. Professor Sprout will need some help with a few new Mandrakes we have this year and you are going to tend them while she is at the feast." Draco nodded glumly, his normal anger at hearing he would have to do servant's work forgotten. He felt that he deserved this for being so blind about Ginny.

"That understood..." They each got one final look of reprimand. "You are both dismissed."

They left quietly.

But as they were walking along the corridor back to their respective Common Rooms, Draco chanced a look at Ginny's face. Just out of curiosity. Her eyes seemed particularly hard and he noticed that her fists were clenched.

"What's the matter?" he asked, not slowing his stride. "Didn't you like Dumbledore's punishment?"

Ginny cut her gaze at him for a moment and then fixed her eyes straight ahead. "Oh no. I'd love to spend hours cleaning out the dungeons with you, Malfoy."

"Are we back to last names then, Weasley?" he retorted in scathing tones. He couldn't believe that this morning he'd been contemplating the thought of actually being in love with this girl.

"I wouldn't know," she replied coolly, hand tightening around the strap of her school bag.

Draco sneered at her. "Fine. If that's the way you want it."

"I didn't know it had ever changed."

And despite Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore's recent admonitions against breaking school rules, Draco seriously considered hexing her; he really did.

-----

Ginny tried as hard as she could to keep her temper under control until six o'clock on Sunday evening. She knew that none of her friends deserved her impatient outbursts, but they were brought on by Malfoy-induced thoughts and she was having trouble not exploding with the anger she felt. She couldn't believe that she was stuck cleaning dungeons with him for Snape, of all professors. What an idiot she'd been to ever even come into contact with that insensitive creep!

Meanwhile, Draco's own anger had been reduced to a simmer of self-hatred. He also snapped at his friends but they were used to his temperament when something didn't go his way and didn't question his mood. That was good because, in the stew of Draco's thoughts throughout Saturday and into Sunday, he was ready to curse everyone else into oblivion to relieve the tension he felt. How could he have been so blind as to think that Ginny might've understood? That Weasley, he corrected her name with a glare at some hapless second-years as he was walking to the dungeons, could have ever made him feel happy was laughable now.

As six o'clock approached, both teenagers found their dark moods evaporating into shades of nervousness. Ginny hadn't been able to force herself to erase that journal entry yet and she discovered herself flipping to it at dinner and absently re-reading her words of interest about Draco.

"Malfoy," she corrected herself, and then she sighed and hung her head.

Harry, who had been watching Ginny from down the table a ways, turned to Hermione and Ron. "Do you think something's wrong with Ginny? She hasn't exactly been herself lately."

Ron brightened at Harry's mention of his little sister, excited that his friend might be interested in her at last, but Hermione gave the matter serious thought.

"She was rather odd at breakfast yesterday," she remembered. She shot a surreptitious look at Ginny who was now pushing her dinner around her plate and glancing at her watch every few seconds. "Maybe she's been meeting someone."

"Meeting who?" Ron asked sharply.

"Oh do calm down, Ron. It would explain why she was out all night on Friday, and why she looks so anxious now." Ron glanced at his sister and then back at Hermione.

"But who, do you think?" he said anxiously. Hermione rolled her eyes and resumed eating.

"Who cares, Ron? It's her life."

And then...

"She was out all night on Friday!?"

Harry ignored the ensuing argument and watched Ginny for a little longer. He saw her stow her journal away and look at her watch yet again only to heave another sigh and get up from the table. He watched as she bade farewell to her friends and left the Great Hall. He didn't understand what had her in such a strange mood and he didn't really think it was his business to ask her, as much as he wanted to know. She was his friend and he was hers but...

He shook his head and turned back to his bickering companions. He wasn't sure what he thought anymore.

-----

Draco entered the Potions dungeon promptly at six o'clock, his theory being that the sooner he got things over with the better.

"Good evening, Draco," Professor Snape greeted him cordially from behind his desk. He looked up for a moment and gestured to his right. "Ms. Weasley is already here." Draco's eyes darted to find Ginny standing in the corner, a pail of water and a sponge in her hands. She did not look happy. "You may begin right away."

Draco nodded shortly, grinding his teeth a little despite himself. He walked over to join Ginny and grabbed the sponge away from her. "Well, come on, then," he said brusquely. Ginny's mouth twisted into a sullen frown as she drew the second sponge out of the bucket, but she followed suit and got down on her hands and knees to scrub at the slug-encrusted floor as Draco was already doing.

They worked in furious silence for a long while, only pausing now and then to drag the bucket a few more feet across the floor. Draco didn't trust himself to even do so much as glance at his companion for fear that he would forget himself and try to curse her. And from the first glimpse he got of Ginny's intense expression, he was sure she was doing the same.

Hours passed. At one point, Professor Snape left them alone with a promise to come back for them at midnight if they hadn't finished by then. Draco glanced at his watch, found it to be only nine thirty, and groaned aloud.

By eleven, the two were close to finishing. Draco sat back on his heels to review the work they'd done so far. Shoving the sweaty bangs from his face, he threw his sponge down.

"What are you doing?" Ginny almost immediately demanded in a sharp, albeit exhausted, voice. "You don't seriously expect me to finish this by myself, do you?"

Draco sneered at her. "Well, I wasn't. But now that you bring it up..."

Ginny flung her sponge down next to Draco's and stood up, her hands finding their place on her hips. "You're a real bastard, Malfoy," she announced.

Draco, not expecting such a violent response, mused to himself about how interesting it was to tease Ginny. Unlike his usual targets, he was never quite sure how the redhead would react to his words. He studied her face flushing crimson as he retorted, "Thank you. I do try to live up to my expectations."

"And just whose expectations are those, Malfoy? Your mother's?" Ginny swiped the sneer from his face as she added, "She couldn't expect much more out of someone trying to live up to her husband, I suppose."

"At least she expects me to be able to make more than a galleon a month. Wouldn't that be your mother's expectations as set by her husband?" His sneer found its way back.

Ginny glared at him and said nothing.

"Ah, yes. The truth hurts; doesn't it, Weasley?" he whispered viciously. Ginny's lips parted as though about to reply but he cut her off. "At least you can still have your fantasies of love with Colin Creevy to keep you company while you're struggling for a living."

Ginny's eyes widened. This, she felt, was going too far. All secrets divulged in Hogsmeade should never have even happened; therefore they were not fair game for insults. But if Malfoy felt differently... She got back down on the ground and picked up her sponge again, saying very nonchalantly, "Have you asked your friends what they think of Parvati yet? I'm sure I could get her to come around to you."

Draco jumped. "What are you talking about, Weasley? I thought we were mired in a battle of insults, unable to speak of anything but how much we hate each other..."

Ginny smiled at him sweetly. "You chose to cross the forbidden line. If you're willing to tease me for things unintentionally revealed then I have every right to blackmail you for your secrets, too."

"Blackmail! Ginny, I was just--"

"Oh? Are we back to first names then?"

Draco could feel the burning in his cheeks and hated himself for it. For once in his life, he couldn't think of anything to say, so he grabbed his sponge and began to scrub with vindictive force. What was he doing? Hadn't he decided already that Ginny wasn't worth his time anymore? She had just proved to him again that she didn't want anything between them save the animosity that was expected of them; why should he want anything more?

Ginny watched Draco working and felt a tad confused. Had Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince and King of Comebacks, just blushed because of her? Had she rendered him unable to respond to her taunting? And why had these things just happened? A sudden thought came to her that perhaps Malfoy still harbored feelings for the Ginny he met in Hogsmeade.

But that's ridiculous, she told herself. You're not the Ginny you were then, and he wasn't the Draco he is now. And then she realized that she'd called him Draco again. And then she remembered his words from yesterday morning, Ginny, you have to help me! There had been more than the urgency of not being caught in those words. He had been pleading with her not to go without the affirmation that the night before had happened and was wonderful. She had seen the helplessness in his grey eyes, the dazed confusion and uncertainty that she herself had so strongly felt and run away because of. But was Draco still holding onto that confusion that she was trying desperately to get rid of? She didn't want to wonder what might've happened had she stayed with him yesterday morning.

The two worked silently for a few minutes, lost in the stew of their own thoughts, until Draco couldn't stand it anymore. He had to know if Ginny still felt that something - even the inkling of something - had happened between the two of them on Friday.

"Do you want to go back to first names?" he asked softly, and more tentatively than he might've done with someone else.

Ginny looked up at him in surprise. "Are you suggesting that we put eons of enmity behind us and be friends?" she asked.

Draco licked his lips and met her incredulous gaze. He was taking a huge chance with what he was about to say. "...yes," he said hesitantly, then, more firmly, "I mean, don't you think we had some kind of connection in Hogsmeade? You certainly acted scared that we'd forget about it." Something close to horror suddenly overtook him. "You do remember everything that happened right? Everything we talked about?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "I just thought it was..." Ginny emitted a small sigh and looked at her hands. "...a fluke. I didn't think you'd remember anything. And I didn't want to risk tainting the memory if that was all I could have." Somewhere she found the courage to look back up into those incredible grey eyes. "Something did happen in Hogsmeade, even though I'm still not quite clear what that was."

Draco felt something inside his mind release in unexpected elation. She felt the same way! "I'll tell you what happened. We both got drunk and poured our souls out to each other. It's hard not to feel connected to someone when you know most everything about them."

Ginny grinned helplessly. "If you think you know everything about me, Draco..."

"Ah! So we are back to first names." Draco smiled for the first time that night.

Ginny shook her head, unable to believe what was happening. "You do realize that not five minutes ago we were at each other's throats?" She passed a hand over her eyes. "I never thought I'd be friends with a Slytherin, let alone you."

"A Malfoy, you mean?" Draco chuckled. "Lighten up, Ginny. The world changes every day. And most times for the better."

Ginny stared at him. "I never expected you to be that much of an optimist," she marveled.

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, but smiled anyway, his happiness returning tenfold. "Tut, tut. I'd have thought you'd picked up more about me by now."

Ginny rolled her eyes, making Draco laugh.

"How about we get out of here?" he proposed, throwing his sponge in the bucket. "We could... go for a walk? Talk for awhile?"

A slow smile curved Ginny's mouth. She bit her lip, and placed her sponge in the water so it wouldn't splash like Draco's had. "I suppose," she said, then met his eyes nervously. "Merlin, this is so weird." Draco nodded.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

He gave her a hand to help her stand up, only to find that Professor Snape was standing not three feet away from them.

"That was a lovely exchange," he sneered. "But the two of you have not completed your duties."

Ginny gaped but Draco came to his senses quickly. "Professor, you won't--"

"Tell anyone you're friends with a Gryffindor brat?" Snape frowned. "Although I can think of an infinite number of people I'd rather see you socialize with, Mr. Malfoy, I will not give you away. Your business is your own." Draco breathed a sigh of relief that Ginny echoed. "But I am not about to excuse you from completing your detention. I want both of you back to work now." The hook-nosed teacher strode away from them to his desk. "And no talking!" he added decisively, seating himself and pulling out a stack of papers to grade.

Draco grinned and picked up his sponge. "Do you want to meet tomorrow?" he whispered to Ginny under his breath.

"There's an empty classroom on the third floor where I go to study," she replied just as quietly. "Meet me there after classes and we can talk."