Shades of Grey

Shades of Grey

Chapter Ten: Baptism

August 11, 1998.

I never knew how much I needed forgiveness until she gave it to me so willingly and selflessly. It was in my baptism that I found faith and the strength to carry on.

Ginevra had to hold onto the banister as she ascended the stairs towards the bathroom. She was leading Malfoy, which was incredibly stupid of her. She should have been behind him with her wand trained, but, for some odd reason, she had let her guard down. Maybe it was because she didn't see him as a threat any more, or maybe it was because of his confession. She wasn't sure, but she did know that she felt bad for pressing the issue.

"Weasley, do you plan on throwing yourself at me?" he queried behind her, and she whipped her head back.

"What?" she gasped, grabbing the railing tightly as she glanced down to see him wearing a perplexed yet amused expression on his face.

"You look like your about to fall back onto me at any moment." He raised a perfectly pale eyebrow at her. "Do you have an upward mobility issue?" he asked sarcastically. "Do you need me to carry you up the stairs?" The ghost of a smirk haunted his face.

"Get in front of me!" she ordered suddenly, stepping to the side and turning her back against the wall.

He obliged, raising his eyebrow even higher as the stairwell was rather small and narrow. He turned to the side and began to slide past her, brushing his chest close to her face.

She held her breath as his soft Oxford dress-shirt smoothly chafed against her cheek, her nose brushing into his chest, which held a soft scent of chocolate and spices. The boy definitely had filled out in the past few months. He seemed broader now, and harder (er, toned).

Draco glanced down briefly and smirked, making sure that every inch of his body touched every part of hers. He enjoyed making her feel uncomfortable. It was though a part of his old, confident self was shining through. It felt a little bit like home.

Ginevra let out a breath as he passed, and he then turned his back to her as he headed up the stairs. She looked up, catching a view of his tight rear end. Blast it all, she had to look. So he had a round toned arse. So what?

They finally made it up to the second floor, and Ginevra felt as though her corneas had burned out of her eye sockets due to all the staring she had done. Draco had looked back, wondering which way to go, and she pointed to the right with her wand, and he turned and entered the room immediately ahead.

It was a rather spacious bathroom, dimly lit with large and numerous candles that filled the room with the sweet smell of lavender. Draco wondered why there were candles lit in here in the middle of the day. It was almost unnerving. The large off-white bathtub sat in the middle of the room.

Ginevra stepped inside, behind him, and turned to close the door and lock it. He spun around and saw her holding her wand loosely in her hand.

"Why, Miss Weasley, are you going to have your way with me?" he asked in a somewhat flirty manner, shocking even himself, which caused the redhead to place her hand on her hip and scowl up at him.

"Yes, Malfoy. Now take off your trousers," she retorted as she pointed her wand at his lower body.

He blenched, stepping backwards, and she cracked a grin.

"Just sit down, Malfoy." She laughed softly. "I need to turn on the water first," she explained as she walked over to the large white porcelain tub and turned on the ancient-looking silver faucet, watching the clear steaming water rush out and begin to fill the tub.

Draco stumbled back until his legs connected with a chair behind him and sat down. He scowled, hating the fact that the Weasley girl had just unnerved him, had almost made him feel shy.

"I locked the door in case you try to overpower me and escape," she explained casually as she picked up a bottle from a rack that hung above the tub and squirted a white, soapy liquid into the water that immediately began to form large bubbles. "I lit those candles, earlier, to give a more relaxing aroma while you have your bath."

"Relaxing?" he asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. Why was she trying to make him comfortable?

"Yeah, I figured you needed a good soak. It would also be nice to let your wound breathe," she answered as she walked over to where he sat and reached out to peel off his bandages.

He felt the warm soapy suds drip down from her hand onto his nose, and he sneezed. She giggled slightly at this and quietly apologised, wiping the excess soap from his cheek.

Ginevra knelt down in front of him and examined the scar below his right eye. She traced a wet finger along the raised white ridge and sighed. It looked better. It was no longer red and swollen but now pale with a slight tinge of pink to it. The scar started just below the eye and curved downward towards his jaw line, highlighting the intensity of his charcoal-coloured eyes. She had to admit that the scar made him look dangerous, and ... well, it made him look sexy.

"Why are you doing this for me?" he asked softly, looking down into her brown eyes, startling her.

She brought her hand down and looked away, swallowing hard. "I can never forget what you did to me and my family in the past," she explained gently, her voice soft and distant. "I hated the boy that you were." She turned her head to look up at him.

His eyes were downcast, and he was nodding his head. He knew that she didn't like him, that she hated him, but he had never thought the words would actually wound him.

"But, I don't hate you now," she admitted softly, and he lifted his eyes. "I know that I only see in black and white. I know that I am not perfect, but family-wise, I have led the perfect life. I never had to go through what you did." Her mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "While I don't agree with the choices you made or how you handled yourself in the past, I couldn't possibly begin to put myself in your shoes and say how I would have reacted, to say that I wouldn't have done the same."

Draco breathed out through his nose and sighed, shaking his head. "You would have made the right choices, Weasley," he said, returning her bitter smile.

Ginevra snorted and shook her head, making him lift an eyebrow in wonder. "Who knows what choices I would have made, Malfoy. I'm not exactly a level-headed individual."

She smiled genuinely this time and winked at him, eliciting a soft laugh from the grey-eyed blond. He didn't know that she was even capable of self-deprecating humour. He certainly wasn't.

"I did this for you because I think it's a symbolic act of starting over, washing yourself from the sins and prejudices of your past," she explained, and his brow furrowed in concentration and understanding. "I guess it's kind of like Muggle baptism, a way to be forgiven."

Draco bent his head and clasped his hands together, holding back a sigh of relief and joy. He never knew, until this moment, how much he wanted to be forgiven, how much he needed it. He looked down into her bright, honey-coloured eyes and smiled a genuine smile. She truly was something.

He hesitantly reached out and tucked an errant strand of red hair behind her ear, causing her to blush and cast her eyes downward. Her face was quite lovely, he had to admit. Her distinguishing features - her red hair, her freckles, her small, oval face - while ordinary or plain to some, suddenly became attractive to him. These features and qualities that he had never noticed before, he was now sure that he would forever seek in a woman, in a lover and mate. Her forgiving soul on top of the simple elegance of her innocent looks made her all the more beautiful in his eyes. He was falling hard, and he knew it. The question remained: should he hide and cease these feelings altogether, or should he sate them?

"Oh, bollocks!" Ginevra swore, stirring him from his reverie.

She leapt up and sprinted over to the tub, which was now overflowing with water and bubbles. She quickly bent down and turned off the faucet, drenching the entire upper half of her torso in water and suds. She spit the bubbles out of her mouth in disgust and wiped them off her face. She then glanced over at Draco, who was snickering silently on his chair.

"You think this is funny, huh?" Ginevra asked as she grinned mischievously and grabbed a handful of bubbles and flicked them at the unaware blond.

Draco sprang up out of his seat and began to cough, wiping at his shirt and spitting out bubbles that she had flung in his face.

"Weasley!" he roared as he rushed towards her, causing her to squeal and drop her wand.

Draco reached his hand into the tub and began to lift fistfuls of bubbles and water, throwing them at the redhead's face. She let out a loud peal of laughter and began to sputter and cough as she choked on the bubbles. She wiped the soap from her eyes and hair and laughed.

"How do you like that?" he asked as he began using both hands to start splashing more and more bubbles and water onto her.

"Peachy!" she retorted, giggling, as she dove her hands into the water and began spraying water unabashedly all over his face and chest.

Ginevra turned her head to her side and began fanning the water out, screaming and giggling. She had not had this much fun in a long time, and she was having it with Malfoy!

"I think you need a bath too!" he exclaimed as he moved in closer to douse her with more water.

As he took a step forward, his right foot slipped on the soapy water below, sending him flying up in the air. Instinctively, he reached out for support, and all he found was the Weasley girl. She let out a panicked yelp as hands met with her waist, and she came crashing down onto the hard linoleum floor with him, landing directly on top.

Draco gripped her upper arms as he groaned into her cheek, having had his back and head bounce off the hard floor. He could feel her wet, warm body press into his. It was a comfortable weight. She tried to lift herself up, looking down into his grey eyes as she bit her lip. He swore he could see something there, something in her eyes, but she suddenly squirmed on top of him, only making the situation far more difficult for him. After a moment, she freed herself from his grip and stood up, only to slip and fall back down again.

He sat up and caught her before she hit the floor this time, bringing her directly onto his lap. They were both soaking wet, holding each other on the damp, flooded floor. She was shaking in his arms, and it wasn't due to cold.

"I guess that concludes the bath," he remarked awkwardly as he stood up, helping her to her feet.

She smiled feebly and nodded her head as she bent back down to retrieve her wand. "I, uh, will be waiting outside. I'll bring you in some towels after I dry up," she announced as she turned around and carefully walked towards the door.

Before she left, she muttered a spell to clean up the water and suds below his feet. She then exited, leaving him to pry off his soaking wet clothes and take a much needed bath.

~*~

Draco languidly soaked in the tub, resting his head against the back. Today was a good day, he thought to himself. Today, he felt more like himself.

He looked down into the tub and frowned as the bubbles began to fade away and disappear. He didn't know that Muggles couldn't have perpetual bubbles. Fairly soon, he would be able to see his toes, amongst other things, in the bottom of the tub.

He turned his head towards the door, hearing a soft voice speaking at an even level. The Weasley girl's room must have been adjacent to the bathroom for he could hear her speaking rather clearly, if not slightly muffled by the thin walls. Apparently she was having a conversation with someone. Perhaps by Floo?

He strained his ear to listen to the conversation.

"Harry, it's fine. I know you're busy. I didn't expect you to remember. I really wish Mum hadn't told you."

"Ginny, honestly, why could you not have told me it was your birthday in an owl?"

"Because I didn't think you'd care to know."

"Ginny?"

"Listen, I have to go check on Malfoy. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Draco turned his head back and smirked. So everything wasn't going swimmingly in the Potter-Weasley romance. The useless toss pot had forgot her birthday. That's probably why she had been crying earlier.

Oh, Merlin, is it today? he asked himself and frowned. When she led him upstairs, he had seen letters and boxes in the parlour, and he hadn't thought to put two and two together.

A knock sounded on the door, and he jumped in the water. Before he could reply, the door swung open.

"I have your towels--"

"Privacy, Weasley!" he shouted, trying to draw what bubbles were left in the water around his groin region.

"I-I ... I didn't know that the bubbles dissipated so quickly," she stuttered in a hushed and awed whisper, blushing several shades of pink.

"Yes, well, they do," he rejoined lamely, trying hard not to blush himself. "You can just set the towels down, Weasley. I'll be out in a moment."

"Yeah," she began softly, lifting her head and staring down into the water.

"Weasley!" he cried again, and she jumped up and turned around.

"I'm going!"

And with that, she stumbled out the door, leaving a blushing Malfoy who was intent on never having a Muggle bubble bath ever again.

~*~

Author notes: No description of naked Malfoy. Aww. Remember, this is a teen rating, people! ^_~ I might save another slightly more risqué bath scene for the epilogue, but only if you're nice!

The next chapter will have Draco do something uncharacteristically nice. It will also detail a literary discussion between the redhead and the blond. You're about to find out how smart and perceptive our Slytherin prince is!