Bleeding Hearts

Back here. This sucks. I could be watching the Chudley Cannons or something but no-o, Ginny wants to go see an annoying little...prat...who hasn't said a civil word to her in her life! Sure, Harry wants us to give him a second chance, but the little pest has never done anything to make me want to give him one! And the nerve of that bastard, writing that stupid mumbo jumbo on that stupid little note. I'll just bet he timed it.

Ron glowered at the front doorstep of Malfoy's home, which looked almost like Dracula's castle, and wasn't much better on the inside. It was all decked up in silver and green and black all through the halls.

Ginny knocked again on the door and stepped back. There was no reaction.

"Malfoy! Open up you bloody git!" Ron yelled and pounded three times with the gargoyle shaped knocker, which growled at him in agitation for banging on it.

Draco was lying in his bed, sleeping. His physical body wasn't so good, but it was a result of his emotions that he was at all sick.

When a house elf awoke him from his sleep, of which he did not get enough of during the last few days, Draco got to his feet in a snarling mess, and ordered the house elf out of his room and then sunk back to the mattress, absolutely worn out. "Stupid creatures, can't follow any damn orders right," he muttered and got up again, and splashed water in his face from his bathroom sink.

"Master Draco, there are people at the front door," Kui said, coming up on his right after expertly climbing the cabinet handles.

"Hmm? What would they want with me now?" Draco snarled under his breath and picked up his wand from his vanity table. "Securam Imas!" he said and the tip of his wand fizzled greyish white.

His mirror rippled out from the center like it was made of water, and a staticky, yellowy image of his front doorstep came into view. "The Weasleys?" he blurted out suddenly and then snarled. "Drat."

"Master Draco? Should we let them in? They've been trying to get in for fifteen minutes, sir," Kui said and handed him a towel.

His face was set seriously, and then he suddenly smirked. "Let them in," he said and turned to Kui. More chances to hold Weasleys lack of cash against him.

There had been no response, and Ginny wondered if she should risk knocking the door again. It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was that the gargoyle knocker looked almost as if it would bite her if she tried.

Ron turned around and leaned against the stone doorframe, glaring at the ground pessimistically. "Gin, this is stupid. The dumb git won't let us in, no matter how long you stand out here and knock!"

Ginny looked over at him and sighed. "Ron, please!"

And then; a miracle happened. The doors opened, and Ron and Ginny stuck thier heads in. It looked dark, and when it opened a blast of cold air hit them. Ron had expected this, and merely glared harder at the inky darkness, but Ginny had never been to Malfoy Manor and thus started to shiver. "This place is cold!" Ginny said and hugged herself.

"Yeah, just like Potions class back at Hogwarts! Only with no Snape!" Ron and Ginny looked at each other and Ginny held her hand out.

"You've been here before," she said.

"But it was your idea to come!" Ron said but went in, and the second Ginny and Ron passed the threshold, the doors closed behind him. "Jeez, Ginny! He's a Death Eater! This is insane! And this place has spells that blocks the Ministry from telling which spell someone's using! He could kill us and nobody would know!" he said, trying to convince her to bail out, even though that was BS.

"I didn't know that kind of spells existed," Ginny said bluntly and looked down at her feet. "Nice welcome mat," she said wryly. It was rug with a silver snake on a green background, and looked real. If not just asleep, and she and Ron were standing on a glass floor looking down at it. For a place that was supposed to house evil things, it was surprisingly well lit, there weren't very many dark and shadowy corners. It was just...weird, and gave off a feeling that made the hairs on the backs of their necks stick straight up. From out of nowhere, a house elf appeared, and led them down the hall.

"The last time I was here, it wasn't lit at all," Ron whispered to Ginny. "Pitch black."

"That's creepy," Ginny said and glanced over her shoulder worriedly. "Try to remember the way back, okay?"

"I know the way back," Ron replied and realized that they had come to a halt.

The house elf had dissapeared, and Ron and Ginny were left high and dry in Malfoy Manor. "He's not much for a host," Ron mumbled. "Never was, the stupid arse..."

"Ron, would you come downstairs if you were sick just to greet people?" Ginny hissed. "Now shh...I feel like I'm being watched!"

"Yeah, there isn't one Muggle painting in this whole estate," Ron replied. "And we're in a place with a zillion magicked portraits. They're all fiercely loyal to one another, when we came in here the first time it was almost like running a gauntlet, there was no way we could get through here sneaking around, there's too many portraits."

"Wonder why they have so many portraits?" Ginny said, silently drinking the surroundings in.

"Because they're all concieted," Ron replied irritably. "And where, in god's name, is MALFOY!"

"Ron!" Ginny gasped, and the last name echoed off the vast halls in a horrible manner that made both of them shudder. "Don't do that!"

Ron stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked the floor. "I hate this. Malfoy had better get his worthless arse down here now or I'm marching right up there and dragging him down here."

"Ron, calm down, you're making me nervous," Ginny said. "There isn't anything...that's going to kill us in here, is there?"

"This is the home of a Death Eater! And you ask if there isn't anything deadly?" Ron said and laughed, it was geniune. "Well, there used to be but the Ministry cleared it out."

"That makes me feel a lot better," Ginny said and smiled at Ron. "You think they got everything?"

"Only Malfoy knows that," Ron said and shrugged, and sat down heavily in a chair.

Five minutes later, Ron got to his feet, absolutely fed up with waiting. He turned around and was about to go up to Malfoy's bedroom when Malfoy himself sailed in with his sneer firmly in place. Apparently he had taken fashion tips from Professor Snape, who was no longer alive, thanks to Voldemort. He focused on Ron and he smirked. "Worried about me, were you, Weasley?" he said sarcastically.

"Not me, my sister, I'm here to make sure you don't try anything on her, Malfoy," Ron said coldly.

Malfoy sniffed and glanced down at her briefly, then back up at Ron. "Don't sit in those chairs, Weasley, they cost more than your yearly income," he said.

"You don't mind if Ginny sits in one?" Ron snapped suddenly.

Draco blinked, having been caught off guard. "She isn't sitting in a chair, Weasley." he asked smoothly, his face never wavering from the malicious sneer he always wore.

"She's read that suicide note, Draco," Ron said in a low voice. "I don't believe any of that bullshit, you're a Death Eater who managed to get out of Azkaban, that's all. Nothing more, and I won't put up with you messing with my sister's head!" Ron stepped forward, one foot ahead of the other and he raised one fist. "And if you try anything, I won't bother with my wand!"

Draco's eyes widened a fraction of an inch and then his face closed up, no emotion got through his expressionless mask. "Shut up, Weasley."

Ginny's eyes darted from Draco to Ron, and realized that if she didn't stop this train of events, one of them would die, and Draco was the better duelist. She jumped in between and she gulped. She instantly felt both boy's cold gazes, and she looked between them. "Calm down, Ron," she said, and turned to Malfoy. He was glaring down at her arrogantly. "You too, Malfoy," she said cooly.

She wondered how what he'd written could be true, his expression as he looked at her had changed nothing since her school days. How could he love her? It was unnerving, she could read nothing from his face or eyes. She was no better than the next person about reading faces, but she began to really doubt what Draco had written. The only thing that made it the least bit believable was that he had never lied, to her, at least.

"My name is Draco," he said coldly.

Ginny tilted her head at him. "And is that what you want me to call you?" she asked.

"You tell me," Draco replied stiffly. "A name is a name is a name. It's only words."

(A/N - That is not a typo. I've heard that saying before, where, I don't remember.)

"You certainly seem to care about the word 'Weasley' in a person's name," Ron said sourly, intentionally sinking luxuriously into the chair to piss Draco off.

Ginny threw a 'look' back at Ron, and turned back to Malfoy. "Hey, Draco, could you get us something to eat? I mean, with your infinite resources, I'm sure you could whip something up," Ron said.

"Ron!!" Ginny hissed. "Shut up! Don't start a fight!"

"I said she could call me 'Draco.' You may not," Malfoy said. "I like my name too much to have it dirtied like that."

"Why you--!!" Ron spluttered, getting to his feet, and was about to rush him when Ginny stepped in the way. "Ginny get out of my way! The stupid-assed git's been asking for it!"

"Shut up Ron!" Ginny said and her brother stalked to another chair, fuming. Then she turned to a very amused Malfoy. She walked up to him, and he looked down at her. Slap! He jumped backwards and his eyes widened. "That was for making Ron mad on purpose," she said and his mouth opened as if to snap back at her. "Don't say a word, Ma--Draco!"

Ginny wouldn't let him speak and he eventually slunk into a chair, looking miffed.

They sat very silently for a while, until Draco spoke up. "What did you really come here for?" he demanded bluntly.

"Well, we heard you were sick," Ginny replied. "I thought we'd come see how you were. You're okay, right?"

"When I'm not being hit," Draco replied sulkily, looking for all the world like a spoiled child being punished by his evil stepparent.

"Hit? That was a tap!" Ginny said.

"You're certainly a Weasley, then," Draco said acutely and frowned. "That hurt worse than when Father used to slap me for being a brat."

"Which was how often?" Ron put in.

"Less often than you might think, Weasley. My father had different standards than you," Draco snapped coldly. It was apparent that he still admired his father somewhat, for whatever godforsaken reason, and any comments by Weasley were not welcome, period.

"Less than what was needed to keep you from being a bratty prick!" Ron said. "You were always an annoying little bastard at school!"

"SHUT UP WEASLEY AND GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Draco yelled, leaping to his feet. "I was who I was, damn it! Get over it! I wanted to die, if you hate me so fucking much why didn't you just let me kill myself!"

"You damn well know the reason!" Ron yelled back at him. "Harry! I would gladly let you die!"

Ginny sighed and turned on her heel, heading out the door silently.

Ron was the first to notice Ginny's absence, and he went chasing after her. "Ginny, you don't know what's down those halls!" he said as he caught up to her.

Draco was right behind Ron, and stopped on the other side of Ginny. "There isn't anything down here, Weasley, but Ginny, you should listen to your brother," he said seriously. "You could get lost."

"Well, if you two would quit fighting like immature prats I would be happy to stay where you both are - but you're acting like little children, biting at each other's necks!" Ginny said angrilly.

Draco took a couple deep gasps of air to catch his breath after running after Ginny, and, if he had been wearing Muggle pants, would have shoved his hands in his pockets, but instead he raked his fingers through his defenseless hair, tearing several strands out. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her off, but he caught himself at the last moment and shut his mouth.

He opened it again a few moments later. "Fine," he said calmly. He looked down at Ginny and allowed his cold mask to slip for an instant, there was no real point to hiding it any more, she'd already read the note and knew about it, besides, he was exhausted. "No more fighting, Weasley," he said and shoved his hand at Ron.

Ron looked at Draco's pale, bony hand as if it were about to bite him, but calmed down and grumbled under his breath as he took it. Niether of them moved, both of them were staring directly into each others eyes for a fraction of a second, and then, Draco and Ron let go at the same time.

Somehow later in the evening, Draco forced it past his lips to invite Ginny and Ron to dinner, something Ron was lividly against, he was absolutetly certain Draco was going to tell the house elves to slip cyanide into their food. "Oh sod off, Weasley!" Draco said but abated for the sake of Ginny's sanity.

It had always been that way, Draco had just never done much to rile Ginny, but to tick off her brothers was a different story entirely. It had been one of his major amusements in school, and definitely still was one.

About five minutes before dinner was supposed to start, the magic doorbell rang and Draco snapped at a house elf to go get the door, and to be quick about it.

The house elf quickly returned with a very angry Minister of Magic and Harry Potter. Percy advanced on Draco like the Angel of Death, promising that Draco would be thrown headfirst into Azkaban for life.

Draco was not fazed, and his sneer was stamped onto his face what looked to be permanently. Draco reached up and smoothed the long strands of white blonde hair down that had come out of the tie at the back of his neck during Percy's near-rabid rage. "Another weasel?" Draco said rudely, and his grin widened when Percy almost started frothing at the mouth. "What did I do now?" he asked lazily.

"Stuff it, Malfoy, you've got Percy mad as hell as it is," Harry said.

"Oh, come now! I'd hate to take the blame for whatever it is you've got me pinned up for!" Malfoy smirked at Harry's glare.

"Percy? What are you doing here?" Ron asked and looked at Harry. "Harry? What the bloody heck is going on here? Just what did Malfoy here pull off?"

Harry didn't say anything, but glanced at Percy. "I told Percy that you and Ginny had gone to visit Malfoy. Percy got up from his desk and immediately Apparated right to the front doorstep."

"Hey, Weasley! Lay off!" Draco snapped and held up one hand. "I didn't ask your sister and the weasel to come visit me, they came on their own! Minister of Morons, I say," he grumbled.

"Weren't we about to eat?" Ginny asked quietly, and everyone looked over at her, most mouths were hanging open except for Harry's. "Would you want to join us, Percy? And...ah...Harry?" she asked, and smiled sweetly.

Draco's glare deepened and he shifted moodily on his feet. He did not appreciate the blush on Ginny's face when she talked to Potter. Everyone looked at him and he nodded curtly. "Follow me," he snarled quietly.