Where'd You Go?

Chapter Seven: Facing the Strange

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

--Alexander Graham Bell

Ginny wasn't really sure what made her do it, but once she was kissing Draco Malfoy, almost nothing in the world could make her stop. It was something that should have been so terribly wrong but instead felt so absolutely right.

She had obviously taken him by surprise when she planted her lips on his, and, at first, he did nothing. But then he slowly gave himself up to the kiss, and it took Ginny's breath away.

Draco hugged her close to him, and her arms automatically circled his neck. His lips were soft and surprisingly sweet (from the syrup, she later noted), and when she felt his tongue slip into her mouth and slide across her teeth, she knew she was gone. She moaned, and that seemed to excite him even more. She ran a hand through his hair, and he moaned too.

But instead of making her want more of him, it seemed to bring her back to her senses. Ginny recoiled and pushed away from him. Ginny was unceremoniously kicked off her high cloud as images of Harry floated through her mind.

"Oh my god," she whispered. "I can't believe I just kissed Draco Malfoy."

"Yes, and I can't believe I just got kissed by a filthy blood traitor," he responded angrily. It was like looking at a completely different person than the one she had just snogged. His cold demeanour was back in place.

"You kissed me too," Ginny retorted, still flustered.

"That's an overstatement," Draco said icily.

"It's an understatement! You enjoyed snogging me." If the situation wasn't so bloody bizarre, Ginny would probably be laughing her head off.

"In your dreams, little Weaslette," he snarled.

"Well, I won't be making that mistake again."

"Good," Draco said and turned his back on her.

"Good!" Ginny repeated and stormed out the room. She only made it as far as the staircase before she slumped down on the steps and put her head in her hands. And it took all the resolve she possessed not to cry.

"I love kissing you," Harry murmured against Ginny's lips. They were in a secluded spot at the Burrow on a summer night. A warm breeze was playing through her hair while the cool grass beneath them grazed her skin. It was very rare to feel so content in the times which they lived in, but she was nevertheless.

"So do I," Ginny said with a smile. She gave him a big open-mouthed, wet kiss on his lips. "I'm such a good kisser, right?"

"Absolutely," Harry said and laughed. He leaned over as if to kiss her again and started tickling her instead. She shrieked and tried in vain to push him off of her.

"Stop!" she cried.

"Beg me for it," he said. It was said innocently enough, but for some reason, Ginny's dirty mind went into overdrive, and she stopped wriggling.

It was at that moment that Harry seemed to realise what he said and what it implied, and he immediately ceased tickling her and reddened. He sat up and wouldn't meet her eyes. Ginny empathised with how awkward he must have felt because she was once in his place. She also felt a little empowered because she was hardly ever the one with more experience in anything than anyone else.

"Look at me, Harry." She sat up and moved closer to him so that she was almost pressed against him.

"What?" he asked warily. It was time to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

"I just want you to know that it's okay with me for whatever you want," she said gently. Ginny was more than ready to be intimate with Harry, but she certainly didn't want to push him into anything he didn't want to do.

Ginny remembered how Michael Corner pressured her so often to have sex with him and how it was one of the things that ended up driving them apart. Luckily for her, nobody knew that except for Hermione because if any of her brothers had ever found out, she doubted he would have been able to even return to Hogwarts after they were through with him.

Dean was different, of course. He was sweet to her and waited until she was ready. It was one of the reasons why she cared for him. In retrospect, Ginny later realised that neither of them had ever loved each other, but they did have a great relationship that only ended because they eventually tired of one another. Little things about him that used to be cute turned into pet peeves. The spark they once had was gone.

Harry finally looked deeply into her eyes, and it was like looking into a mirror, for she saw all the love she felt for him reflecting back to her. It was a powerful feeling, and for a moment, she felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

Harry caressed her shoulder. "I want you."

The words touched her to the core, and she kissed him with a fervour she didn't even know she possessed. He kissed her back with equal passion, and his lips slowly drifted towards her neck. Ginny arched back in ecstasy and lost herself in all of the emotions.

"You look like hell."

Ginny glanced up guardedly to find Tonks standing in front of her. Her hair was a fetching shade of midnight blue today that Ginny, in the recesses of her mind that weren't consumed with guilt and confusion, thought complemented her skin tone quite nicely.

"Thank you very much," Ginny drawled. "Always what I love to hear."

"What's happened to you?" Tonks asked as she nudged Ginny aside with her foot and joined her on the steps.

There was just something about Tonks that made Ginny want to confide in her. For all of her silliness and clumsiness, Tonks knew a thing or two about matters of the heart. Not to mention she was older and probably about the least judgemental person Ginny knew. That alone made her appealing.

"Promise you won't tell?"

"Do I look like the sort of person that would go blabbing everybody's secrets about?" Tonks asked, crossing her arms.

"How honestly would you like me to answer that?" Ginny said with a raised eyebrow.

Tonks pouted and said in a hurt tone, "Well I am in the bloody Order, aren't I? That at least has to count for something..."

"I was only joking," Ginny said and pushed some hair out of her face. "To be honest, I would probably pour my heart out to you even if you admitted to me you were Rita Skeeter in disguise," she said wryly.

"That juicy then?"

"I certainly don't think so," Ginny said, slightly defensively.

"Love troubles, I take it," Tonks said with a smirk.

"You could call it that." Ginny squirmed uncomfortably, suddenly nervous to actually voice her problems.

"Spill."

Again, Tonks' demeanour somehow put Ginny at ease, and she told her everything. Tonks was a very good listener, expressing the right reactions at every twist and turn of Ginny's sordid tale. And as Ginny expected (or rather, hoped), Tonks didn't judge or criticise her for having feelings for Draco. In the end, she gave what Ginny thought would be some much needed advice.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do or how you should feel," Tonks said, and Ginny felt relieved and disappointed at the same time. As much as Ginny valued her independence and following her own mind, having it spelled out for her would have just been so simple.

"However," Tonks continued, "you know what kind of person my cousin is, just as you know what kind of person Harry is. Most importantly, you know who you are and what makes you happy. Don't compromise anything for anyone. And above all else - follow your heart!"

Ginny pondered that. "Kind of vague, don't you think?"

Tonks shrugged. "Perhaps. But I would have killed for that kind of advice at your age. Hell, I would have killed for that six months ago when I had to figure it out all on my own with Remus."

"How are you two doing, by the way?" Ginny was finished talking about herself for the moment and welcomed the distraction.

As Tonks gushed (is that what love reduced people to?), Ginny couldn't help but let her mind drift to the boy down the corridor and to the boy that could have been anywhere on the planet at the moment. Was either of the two thinking of her right now?

It should have been no contest in Ginny's heart. She loved Harry with everything she had, whereas she could barely stand to be in the same room as Draco Malfoy. Why, then, couldn't she stop thinking about the most selfish boy in the world instead of the boy who was out there saving it?