One Day
Disclaimer: Nothing’s changed since the last chapter. I still own nothing.
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Chapter 2—What A Load Of Rubbish
"What!" Ginny exclaimed, "What a load of rubbish."
"Weasley, I think for the first time, I actually agree with you. I think that the Ministry is worrying about a whole lot of nothing."
"Than what are you doing here?"
"Fudge’s orders. Though I think he only did it to get rid of me. You should see him. Shivers and shakes whenever I meet him. Worse Minister of Magic ever."
"Look, get to the point."
"In a nutshell, I have to stick around you until the Ministry thinks that you’re out of harm's way. Kind of be your bodyguard, protector. Fudge told me he reckons I’m the best guy for this. You want the truth? I think you’re completely safe and he just wants me out of his way. The Malfoy name never has the same effect on people after Father died in St.Mungo’s," Draco told her boredly in a monotone.
Ginny was taken aback. How could anyone speak so calmly about their father’s death? But then again, Draco Malfoy never was part of ‘anyone’. He was more of a rare species of person. Cruel, cutting, heartless. She bet he’d push a baby out of his way if it dared go across his path. Even if ‘out of his way’ meant into a fiery pit full of fire breathing creatures. But he spoke partly true anyway. The Malfoy name had always called for respect, even if it was partly out of apprehension. But after his father had been revealed a Death Eater and his mother committed suicide, the name Malfoy was far from popular.
Ginny saw him staring at her, waiting for her to speak and realized she had been ignoring him as she thought her own thoughts. She coughed, clearing her throat. "But what about my say in this arrangement? Do I even have a say?"
"I have no idea. Hey, I know you’re some big shot model slash fashion designer, but the orders of the Ministry exclude no one. I won’t kill you, you know. Or at least, I’ll try not to." Ginny stared in shock. He didn’t look or sound as if he was kidding. Draco laughed, "You’re so easy to take in! I was kidding. It was a joke. A j. o. k. e."
"Since when does Draco Malfoy joke?" Ginny snapped back, annoyed at her earlier behavior. "He must think you’re just another stupid witch now," she growled to herself.
"Draco Malfoy does a lot of things that you’re not aware about, Weasley. Don’t think you know me. No one really knows me." p>"I think I knew that," she muttered.
"Did you? For heaven’s sake, I’m not going to waste my time chatting with you, all right?"
"Well, if what you said before is right, then you’re going to be wasting a lot of your precious time with me."
Only after she has spoken did she realize how suggestive that sounded. She blushed, thought she tried extremely hard not to.
"I will, won’t I," he smirked as she went even redder.
"Shut up, won’t you. So say you’re right. That there’s really a mad, insane, nutty wizard coming to try to kidnap me and take me away. Why would he want to do that? And why me?"
"Because you’re famous. Because everyone who’s anyone in the wizarding world knows you. Heck, I’ll put it another way. Everyone knows you. I’ll admit that. You’ve shown them that you’re not just another Weasley, okay? So I suppose this guy thinks that if he gets you, he’ll go down as the person who managed to catch Ginny Weasley, the Ginny Weasley. Hell, maybe he’ll become as infamous as You-Know-Who."
"Well, what do you know," Ginny wondered, slightly amazed, at what he had told her about the wizard trying to catch her as well as the fact that Draco Malfoy had acknowledged her achievements. "Hey," she suddenly questioned, "Why don’t you call You-Know-Who by his name? I mean, I thought all his followers and henchmen dared to call him V- Vol... his name."
Draco stared at her, showing no emotion. He was so silent that Ginny started to feel scared. She was beginning to regret ever asking the question. Suddenly he slammed his fist on her desk. But when he spoke, his voice was low, soft and low. And dangerous.
"Do you think that? You do, don’t you. Everyone does." He laughed hoarsely. "Everyone in this whole goddamn world thinks that I’m a Death Eater. But I’m not."
He pulled up the sleeve of his robe and thrust his arm in front of her. "Look. There’s no bloody Dark Mark there. It’s not as if I had a choice about who my father was. It’s not like I had a choice in my upbringing. It’s not like I wanted a Death Eater father and a mother who cared about nothing but her looks and reputation. Even up to the point where she killed herself because it was tarnished. Do you think I bloody like my family? How I was supposed to act, who I was supposed to speak to, who I had to scorn, all orders from my parents. They would make sure nothing got in the way of their lives. Not even their bloody son! But you wouldn’t understand. Because you’re perfect little Ginny Weasley, living her perfect little life, with her perfect little family."
"You can’t say that. You don’t know me either."
"No. No I don’t. And you don’t know me."
"No."
"But since we’re stuck in this situation, we might as well try to not kill each other. Deal?"
"Fine. Look," Ginny paused uncertainly, before resuming her sentence, "I’m sorry I said that before. You are right. You had no choice in how your family acted."
"Yeah. Thanks. Hey, Weasley?"
"The name’s Ginny. Weasley kind of groups me. I think I proved all those who thought I was just another red-headed, freckled, Weasley kid wrong now."
"Fair enough. As I was saying-" Ginny nodded, prompting him to go on. "Do you happen to have a secretary or someone who could get me some Butterbeer? I’m feeling slightly thirsty. Some food wouldn’t go down too badly either."
Ginny sighed resignedly. Once a Malfoy, always a Malfoy she supposed, but didn’t say anything to him. Instead, she muttered a spell and Starr’s face popped up in a bubble. "Yes?" she chirped, smiling.
"You wouldn’t be so kind as to get me some Butterbeer and food, would you? He," Ginny jerked her head, "is feeling hungry."
"Hey, no worries! I’ll be back in a second." Her face disappeared and the faint "pop" of someone Apparating was heard.
"Is she always that cheerful?"
"Mostly." They sat in silence for a while until Starr came in the door.
"Sorry it took so long. Madame Rosmerta was busy. Enjoy!" She grinned at the pair and left the room after placing the food and drink on the table.
Draco picked up the mug full of Butterbeer and took a gulp. "You certainly have a nice life Ginny," he smirked, "I could get used to this!"
Ginny groaned.
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Review please! I spent almost a good four hours working on three chapters (of different chapters) on a Saturday. See how much you guys mean to me? Reviews help brighten up a day! Once again thanks to Fiona who’s always there to bug me into writing.
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Draco and Ginny belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, Warner Bros and various other corporations. They are being used here without permission and/or affiliation with the above. None of the authors listed here make any profit from these stories.