Of Vodka and Green Fairies

Of Vodka and Green Fairies...

Chapter 1- I'm not going to sleep with you

It'd been a bad day.

A very, very bad day, decided Ginny as she sat at the bar, staring at the empty shot glass beside her.

Vodka was disgusting.

She sighed, dropping her head into her hands. She was an idiot. Not only was she in a bad mood now, but she'd be in a bad mood tomorrow as well after she woke up with a killer hangover.

She was contemplating driving a peanut shell into her left temple and ending it all quickly, when a terrible noise drifted towards her ears.

Oh dear gods, please don't let the last thing I hear on this earth be Draco Malfoy...

"Drinking alone, Weaslette?"

Apparently it will be.

She looked up at him, attempting her best death glare.

Malfoy stood by the bar stool next to her, smirking. Judging by the suit he was wearing, he could have just come from a business meeting. Or a gala for poor, disabled, orphaned children. It was black, or possibly grey...it was too hard to tell in the dim light of the bar. The top couple of buttons on his shirt were undone, she noticed. His hair wasn't in the ridiculously perfect state she usually saw it in. It was slightly mused, as though he'd run his hand through it. All in all, he looked like male beauty fallen from the heavens.

Ginny contemplating spitting in his general direction.

"Go the fuck away, Malfoy."

He laughed and sat down beside her.

She tried to remember why exactly she and Malfoy were on such good terms. It was a bit fuzzy....ah, right. She scowled.

It'd been nearly six years since the end of the War, the end of her sixth year. Malfoy had, under the orders left in Dumbledore's will, been taken in under the protection of the Order. The story went that Snape had told Dumbledore about the task set to Malfoy. The details were fuzzy and only a small few knew exactly what had happened, but the end was clear. Snape had killed Dumbledore on the old Headmaster's orders. A few months later, Dumbledore's will, along with Snape and Malfoy, turned up. That was when the Order had, unwillingly, taken Malfoy in.

Draco gave a small snort, unknowingly thinking along the same lines.

Those first few months with the Order were possibly some of the most hellish of his life. His conscious had reared its ugly head and wouldn't leave him alone. That was the year he realized what a black hole the War was. He couldn't go back to the Dark Lord; he'd be killed without a second thought. His only option was to seek protection from the Order, some of whom would have killed him without a second thought as well. Still, it wasn't as though he actually had a choice. Snape had dragged him to number 12 Grimmauld Place and left him there. The Order loathed him. He wasn't exaggerating- the Order hated him with every fiber of their being.

He spent five months relieving the hellish night at the end of his sixth year. Five months dealing with accusing looks and the world turning to ice whenever he walked into a room. Finally, it'd been Lupin who had taken pity on him. The werewolf had walked into the kitchen one day in January, where Draco had been sitting, nursing a cup of Ceylon tea. Lupin had sat down across from him and asked him if he wanted to join the Order. Draco had been surprised, but he'd agreed; anything to get out of that damned house. In the following six months he'd seen more horror than he had ever thought possible. He'd seen scores of his old friends, and his parents' friends, killed in the heat of the battle.

For the longest time after the death of Lucius Malfoy, there had actually been a story circulating that the death of Malfoy senior was caused by Malfoy junior. A wry smile twisted Draco's lips at the memory. No, Lucius Malfoy's death had been nothing so grand. He'd gotten hit from the side by a stray Avada Kedavra. No one knew who cast it. Draco hadn't even been in the battle that day.

Unlike what many chose to believe, he hadn't been unaffected by his father's death. He'd grieved and mourned for the man that had been his hero for most of his life. He'd set up the funeral arrangements and helped lower the casket into the ground at the cemetery not far from Malfoy Manor, now rightfully his. He'd attempted to calm his crying mother and he too had cried. Not much of course, but he wasn't inhuman. Oddly enough, the Order had been kinder to him since that day.

Not that they'd ever actually liked him, but the hatred wasn't there anymore. He, surprisingly, realized that he didn't hate the Weasleys...well, maybe Weasel King.

So why was he sitting in a bar at three in the morning attempting to strike up a conversation with the Weaslette?

Hell if he knew.

Ginny looked back at him.

"Malfoy- I mean this in the nicest way possible. Get the fuck away from me and I will restrain myself from driving a peanut shell into your skull."

Draco simply raised an eyebrow.

Ginny sighed and resigned herself to having to speak to the irritating bastard. It was bad enough that she had to see him once a year at Ministry functions, but having to speak with him today of all days was just...cruel.

"Come on, Weaslette. Entertain me."

She shot him a glare that could have frozen the sun. Draco realized then just why exactly she was sitting alone at a bar, wearing a rather fancy yellow dress.

"Ah," he said.

"Shut up," she ordered.

"Potter and Chang's wedding was today."

"Go away, Malfoy."

"Still pining?"

"Just leave me alone, alright?" she asked, desperation creeping into her voice.

A little twinge of guilt shot through Draco. He hadn't exactly meant to make her feel worse, he'd just wanted to annoy her a little.

"And why are you talking to me anyway?" she continued. "Date stand you up?"

Okay, he wasn't sorry anymore.

"Actually," he said through gritted teeth. "I was supposed to meet Blaise for drinks, but it seems he has a date with some eighteen year old French supermodel that he forgot to tell me about."

Ginny's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Her name wouldn't happen to be Gabrielle, would it?"

"I think, why?"

A loud laugh burst from Ginny's lips. It was a loud, rich, head thrown back kind of laugh.

"Mind explaining what exactly is so funny?" he asked, annoyed at not being in on the joke.

"Do you remember Fleur Delacour?" she asked.

"Somewhat..."

"That's her younger sister."

Draco's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Really?"

"Poor Zabini," she laughed.

Draco found the corners of his own mouth turning up. Damn her.

"Bloody bastard deserves it," he muttered with a smirk.

Ginny laughed again. Oh sweet gods, she was laughing with Malfoy. What next?

She was spared any further conversation by the bartender showing up.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy. Would could I get you?" he asked, wiping down a shot glass.

Draco looked over at her and smirked. Ginny's suspicions, while slightly dulled by four shots of vodka, were immediately aroused.

"A bottle of your best," he decided. "And two glasses."

The bartender looked surprised, but nodded and went into the back. Ginny turned to the blond, frowning.

Draco held up a hand. "Just wait and see."

"I'm not going to sleep with you," she stated bluntly.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Why is it that women always assume that?"

Ginny just raised an eyebrow.

The bartender came back with a tray and set it down in front of them. The tray held what looked like a wine bottle, a pitcher of water, two stout glasses, something that looked like an intricately carved cake server, and small bowl of sugar cubes.

"Enjoy."

Ginny peered at the label.

"Absinthe?"

Draco uncorked the bottle and poured a small amount of emerald green liquid into one of the glasses.

"Yes. Don't tell me you've never heard of it."

Ginny scowled at him. "Of course I have, I've just never tried it."

Draco gestured to her glass.

She hesitated for only a moment before nodding. She watched as he set the server over her glass and placed a sugar cube on it.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't keel over from overdose."

"Oh."

He took the pitcher and poured the water over the cube, letting it dissolve. He could feel her eyes on him. It was oddly unnerving. He handed the glass to her and repeated the process with his own.

He sat up, raising his glass in a toast.

"To Potter and Change?"

Ginny laughed, clinking her glass with his. "May they live happily ever after."

The green liquid burned as it went down her throat, trailing fire down her esophagus and into her stomach. It tasted somewhat of licorice. Draco watched her, smirking.

"Good?"

Ginny contemplated for a moment. "Interesting. But that still doesn't mean that I'm sleeping with you."

Draco didn't even bother rolling his eyes.

Ginny looked off at a couple sitting not too far from them and scowled. How she loathed couples- married ones especially.

Draco followed her gaze and snickered.

"Shut up."

"I just find this funny because, according to the Daily Prophet, you were the one that dumped Scar Head. My congratulations on that, by the way."

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, I think. But...it's complicated."

Draco leaned back on the chair beside him and shrugged. "Try me."

Ginny raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You want to hear my whining?"

"I got stood up by my best friend. I think some female whining seems to be just the thing to finish the evening off with."

Ginny rolled her eyes. Draco watched her sigh and look blankly at the other side of the bar.

"He wasn't supposed to get married!" she finally burst out. "Well, not first anyway."

Ginny heard something that sounded oddly like a snort coming from Draco's direction.

"Oh, go ahead and laugh," she said, deadpan.

"No, no. I'm listening," Draco lied.

She rolled her eyes again. "This is ridiculous. I'm not telling you anything, Malfoy."

"No, really. I'm not laughing. So, you were hoping Potter would always be there when every other relationship fell through?"

Ginny gave him an icy look. "Way to be sympathetic."

"Not my strong suit," he said with a shrug.

The redhead snorted and reached for the absinthe. Draco took it from her and poured her drink.

"Something tells me this is going to be a long night," he said.

~

A crash echoed through the flat as a tangle of limbs stumbled through the doorway.

"Oops," Ginny giggled drunkenly as a pile of books clattered to the floor.

Draco's arms were still wrapped tightly around her, mouth on her neck, and simultaneously trying to make it to his bedroom. She focused her attention away from the books and reattached her lips to his.

Draco kicked his shoes to the side and began working on her zipper, while Ginny busied herself with the buttons on his shirt. The backs of her knees connected with the side of his bed and the two fell back, Ginny's dress sliding down to the floor. She finally peeled off his shirt and threw it to the side.

"I thought you said you weren't gonna sleep with me," Draco muttered, his lips moving across her chest.

"I lied."

***************************************

I do realize that there are probably literal daggers being thrown at the screen/me right now, but really.

I do plan on finishing CtD, but just not now. I'm uninspired and this thing just kinda bit me...like a rabid plot bunny. I know those loyal -cough, cough- followers of CtD are angry with me, to say the least, but please don't flame me in reviews on this. If you must, do so in CtD.

I hope you liked this, because I'm really having a lot of fun writing it.

As always, a review is appreciated.