Rhapsody by distempered
Summary: Ginny and Draco share a secret love of music. Will it be enough to break down predjudiced walls and bring them together?
Categories: Long and Completed Characters: None
Compliant with: None
Era: None
Genres: Romance
Warnings: None
Challenges:
Series: None
Chapters: 16 Completed: Yes Word count: 40153 Read: 49558 Published: May 06, 2005 Updated: May 06, 2005
C'mon Get Happy by distempered
Disclaimer: Canon characters do not belong to me.

Rhapsody


Chapter Five – C’mon Get Happy


It had been a full two weeks since Ginny received the letter from her mother informing her that George had been found and had been found alive, and Ginny had been running around on clouds since that day. She’d been so shocked and elated when she first got the news that she jumped full-on into Charlie’s arms and kissed him. And through the days as the Christmas holiday drew closer, Ginny seemed to be doing a lot of spontaneous kissing of people, as well as a lot of singing.

But of all the people that had been offering her congratulations on the news and praising the voice that had seemingly come out of nowhere, the one person that Ginny had hoped would say something was strangely quiet.

The truth was that Draco had actually been avoiding Ginny, as much as he tried to deny it to himself. Ever since he saw her kissing that little sod, he’d wanted nothing more than to shut himself away and ignore the fact that there ever was a girl named Ginny Weasley. Although why he cared certainly did escape him.

It dawned on him that he shouldn’t be letting an upstart little Gryffindor, especially a Weasley, get under his skin like that. And so, when he saw her coming down the hall, two days before the end of term, with a jump in her step and singing “I’m Just a Girl (Who Cain’t Say No)” in that throaty alto of hers, he did the only thing he thought natural. He ducked into a classroom and discreetly shot a Trip Jinx at her. Really, it was only natural.

Ginny fell with a surprised little squeak and skinned the palms of her hands. Draco walked swiftly out the classroom and stood over her.

“So clumsiness runs in the genes, eh Weasley?” he drawled, extending a hand to help her up.

She took the proffered hand gratefully and winced as he gripped her wounds. But when she was standing again, she was grinning from ear to ear. “You know something Draco? There is not a thing you can say that will bring me down! I’m so happy I could shout from the rooftops!”

“Or sing?” he asked, amused.

“Yes! Sing, sing, SING!” she replied and then trilled out a lovely C note. She laughed when he quirked an eyebrow at her. “What? Don’t you like my singing?”

He rolled his eyes, but inside said ‘yes’. He then noticed that he was still holding her hand and what’s more, she had entwined her fingers in his. Or had he done it? He let go quickly, so quickly that she jumped. A shy blush crept up her neck, and she turned around to start walking again.

Get a bloody hold on yourself Malfoy, he scolded himself as he watched her dancing down the hallway. He then spun on his heel and walked off toward the Great Hall to help with the decorating. Thank Merlin for Christmas holiday.

----

Ginny had reached the Gryffindor common room and burst into the room in the middle of a rousing rendition of “Luck Be a Lady.” The occupants turned to gape at her and when she had finished, they applauded.

“Merci, merci,” she said, in a mockery of a French accent. Then she spun around in a giddy little twirl. She very well would have fallen over, had Charlie not chosen that moment to enter the common room and catch her.

“You really ought to be more careful, Gin. You’ve got about two hours before term ends and you can go home to see George. Wouldn’t want to end up in the hospital wing, now would you?” he chided playfully. He set her back on her feet and she turned around quickly to face him.

“You know…we had all just given up hope that he’d be found. I mean, I suppose Fred never totally given up, but we all just assumed the worst for so long. But now it’s like the whole world has opened up again. Mum said Ronnie and Harry are going to come home for Christmas and Hermione is joining us too and it’s going to be just one huge happy family again.” Tiny tears began to escape as emotion took a hold of her. Charlie reached up to wipe them away with his thumbs, and then he cupped her chin with his hand.

“The whole world has opened up,” he repeated and then softly kissed her. It was the gentlest, most delicate of sensations and Ginny, rather than back up quickly, found herself eager to continue. Little voices in the back of her head told her that kissing Charlie was NOT going to make her forget about whom she’d rather be kissing, but she somehow managed to shut those up.

“Ooooooooh!” A high-pitched squeal interrupted Ginny and Charlie, and they broke apart somewhat awkwardly. Ginny flushed and Charlie just laughed at her. Elizabeth hopped like a mad bunny up to them and gripped them both by their arms.

“I have been waiting for this moment forever!” she said, punctuating it with a huge grin and a gentle pinch to each arm.

“Lizzie here has told me many times just how perfect we are for each other, Ginny. It has been drummed into my ears almost every day for 6 years.” Charlie rolled his eyes at Elizabeth, but then looked quite seriously at Ginny. “Point is I really do like you, Gin.”

Ginny was dumbstruck. She had never really seen Charlie as anything more than a friend, but she had to admit to herself that the signs were all there. Charlie had always been protective of her, ready to help in any situation, a shoulder to cry on – a true best friend. But looking back on their years of friendship, Ginny had to see that underneath it all, there was a desire in Charlie to be more than just a best friend.

Having kissed him in the hallway the day she found the letter must have encouraged him to come out with it, she reasoned. He must have assumed that her feelings must be the same as his. Well, that wouldn’t do! She had to tell him that she only thought of him as a friend.

Ginny opened her mouth to respond, but then stopped herself. How did she explain kissing him just now? Yes, he did kiss her, he started it, but how did she explain kissing him back. The fact was that she – had – kissed – back. Her inner voice piped up.

You know why you kissed back, Ginny.

“Quiet!” she hissed and then looked up at Charlie, embarrassed that she had spoken aloud to herself.
“Well, what do you say? Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked, taking her hand and drawing it up to his lips to press a kiss there.

Ginny was torn. She liked Charlie well enough and being his girlfriend didn’t mean she was throwing in her lot to get married or anything. And yet, Draco had been so encouraging lately…but NO! He was Draco Malfoy, for Merlin’s sake, and as such he was just a cunning Slytherin. What was she thinking? Of course she would say yes to Charlie. She wanted to…didn’t she?

“Sure, Charlie,” she said softly and then smiled up at him. “Yes.” Charlie picked her up and spun her about, before setting her down and kissing her again. Elizabeth squealed and ran off to the 7th year girls dorm to tell Jordi.

“Erm, well, I have to go finish packing before bed, but uh, I’ll – I’ll see you tomorrow before I leave then?” she said, trying to suppress a blush and all sorts of emotions. He nodded, kissed her once more, and then went off to his Head Boy suite.

Ginny sighed and walked into the dorm. She was immediately accosted by Jordi and Elizabeth.

“Oh Ginny, we are so happy for you!” exclaimed Elizabeth.

“Yeah, it’s like the fates have intervened – your qi is happy,” Jordi added.

“My qi?” Ginny asked, stifling a snort of laughter.

“Yeah, it’s like, your essence. We’re talking about it in Divination.”

“Okay guys, let’s not go overboard.” Ginny moved to her trunk and began throwing things in it, trying to ignore the little smile that kept coming to her lips.

“Look at her, she can’t stop smiling,” Elizabeth said. “She’s in loooooove.”

“Charlie and Ginny sittin’ in a tree,” Jordi sang.

Ginny turned around to face her friends with a look of impatience crossed with amusement. “You two are absolutely impossible. You do know that, right? But you are the best friends a girl could ever ask for.” She opened her arms and drew the two girls into a hug.

“Well this will be good news for Rachel,” Jordi said. She broke apart from the hug to change into her nightdress. Elizabeth agreed and got her pajamas from her dresser.
“What do you mean?” Ginny asked quizzically. She reached into her trunk to pull out a nightdress and started to change.

“Well, she had this idea in her head that you fancied Malfoy, but now that you’re with Charlie, she can feel free to pursue him. Don’t know why she’d want to though. Aside from his looks, he’s not got much to offer,” Jordi said, laughing.

“He’s got plenty to offer,” Ginny said before she could stop herself. Jordi looked at her oddly and Elizabeth turned around to stare openly. “I mean, I would assume he would have something to offer.”

“You don’t…no, no way. I refuse to believe it.”

“Gin, surely you don’t fancy Draco?”

“No!” she said, a little too quickly. “No I don’t fancy him. You’re out of your gourds, both of you. I’m with Charlie. I like Charlie. I’m just saying everyone judges everyone else so quickly around here, especially the Slytherins. They can’t all be bad, can they?”

“I suppose not. And besides, Lizzie had a crush on Malfoy not too long ago, isn’t that right Liz?”

Elizabeth blushed and answered, “Stop it! That was just a phase. I really do like Mark Denton now. Oh, he’s so cute with his sparkly green eyes and his freckles.”

She was interrupted by Jordi tossing a pillow at her. Ginny laughed, glad that the subject had been changed.

After a brief pillow fight, the girls settled down to go to sleep. Ginny buried herself in blankets and she thought about how wonderful things were going to be now that George was home and Draco was her boyfriend. Her eyes widened at that thought…Charlie, Charlie was her boyfriend.
Her last comforting thought was this: at least Charlie will take my mind off of him.

----

A/N: I'm Just a Girl (Who Cain't Say No) is from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical OKLAHOMA! and belongs to them. Luck Be A Lady is from Frank Loesser's musical GUYS AND DOLLS and belongs to him. Chapter title is from Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's song Get Happy.
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