Draco.

Ever since Ginny learned about it, she couldn’t get it out of her head. It was just such a weird name. Draco. Draco Malfoy.

Of course, she really didn’t have room to complain, being Ginevra herself. But still – Draco? His parents named him dragon?

It was weird enough that she stared at him in the Great Hall, head cocked to one side, trying to imagine what would have induced anyone to do such a thing. Of course, they were Malfoys and she had no idea what motivated Malfoys – but watching Draco eating breakfast, she thought she could understand.

He really did fit his name, his platinum-blonde hair standing out like shimmering scales, setting him apart from his peers, as he sat presiding, regally surveying the table. He swooped down upon the toast; his prey had no chance of escaping, it looked easy for him – that small smirk, the delicate way he chewed, leaving no crumbs behind…

It was about this point that Ginny realized she was staring, openmouthed, at her family’s greatest rival as he ate toast. She blushed bright red, and quickly turned away before anyone noticed.

~*~*~

She caught herself doing it again, in the hallway. Draco (she couldn’t think of him by his last name now, not when she knew his first name) was leaning against a wall, predatory smirk on his face. Suddenly, his eyes spotted a target, and he took flight, gracefully weaving through the crowds until he came across a scared first-year. The boy froze, trapped in his menacing gaze, and he spoke softly to the poor kid, who was just staring up at him, fear and panic written on his face; Draco’s smirk unfurled, hungry and ready.

Then Harry stepped in out of nowhere, and the balance of power shifted. The boy scampered off, dropping a book but not going back for it, and Harry glared at Draco and shot him a harsh word.

He was like a knight riding in on shining armor, his sword his words, and Draco reared back, wings flapping dangerously, green scales shining, fire building in his eyes and in his throat. His great mouth opened, teeth gleaming, and exhaled –

And then suddenly Ginny was snapped out of her daydream by McGonagall's sharp voice as she lectured the two students she’d caught almost fighting. “No magic in the hall!” she exclaimed, and assigned them both detention on the spot.

Draco sneered, but nodded and accepted the punishment, slinking back into the shadows once released… Free to fight another day…

She was doing it again! Ginny shook her head so violently that she got a headache, and swore the thoughts gone.

~*~*~

But they would not be banished. It happened whenever she saw him – luckily, she didn’t see Draco too often, only in the Great Hall, and sometimes in the hallways.

And during Quidditch matches. It was incredible, watching him soar through the air, spearing down in a green blur after the Snitch, and when he caught it (Hufflepuff had never stood a chance, of course) Ginny found herself clapping, and had to stuff her hands into her pockets to stop.

That was it, she thought, and went to the library.

~*~*~

Draco (n.) –

1) A reptile genus known as flying dragons or flying lizards.

2) (7th century BC) An Athenian Muggle legislator. His codification of Athenian law was notorious for its severity; for instance, the death penalty was imposed even for trivial crimes, which gave rise to the adjective draconian in English.

3) A large constellation (the Dragon) stretching around the north celestial pole and lying between Ursa Major and Cepheus, said to represent the dragon killed by Hercules. It has no bright stars.

~*~*~

OK, so that really hadn’t helped. Although the bit about the Muggle legislator (she’d had to look that word up, too) had been interesting. But now Ginny just wanted to see the constellation for herself. It couldn’t be that hard to get up on the Astronomy towers, right?

Wrong. She got caught twice (detention with Filch – not fun), and the third time, she just got lost, until finally she gave it up. Though she attempted to pick out the stars from down by the lake, none of them were bright, as it had said in the book, and she couldn’t find them.

Ginny eventually (in this case meaning after a week and a half of more and more desperate measures) gave up with a sigh, and that was when she came into contact with Draco once more.

Literally.

~*~*~

“Ow!” Draco was bowled right over by Ginny’s flying body, falling backwards and hitting his head on the floor with a sharp crack!

She had fallen too (tripped by an anonymous foot three steps up on the stairs) and moaned, lifting her head from where it was currently mashed into the older boy’s shirt.

Ginny slowly sat back, one hand rubbing her side where she’d bruised it on the sharp corner of the stairs. She was waiting for the usual insults, – just because she’d been noticing how dragon-like he looked lately, didn’t mean she liked him or expected him to be nice – the “Watch it, Weasley!” or the rant about inferior breeding, Gryffindors, or manners, or eyesight, or even just a curse right in the forehead.

But it never came. Ginny frowned, looking around the hall slowly before turning back to Draco. Several students were smiling, a couple even clapping – there wasn’t a single other Slytherin in this corridor, and no one else would ever think of being concerned by Draco’s unusual silence.

But Ginny was, and when she leaned in closer and saw the spot of blood under his head, she panicked, and a professor was there right away. McGonagall was furious that no one had stopped to tend to him, and she had him lifted off the ground in a conjured blue stretcher, and floating away towards the hospital wing, in seconds.

Ginny watched him go, horribly dismayed. Looking down, she blinked, and picked up a thin, flat black book.

~*~*~

She felt incredibly guilty, all through her classes, and once she was free for the day she immediately left for the hospital wing. She was a bit worried when she walked through the doors (all day long, Slytherins had been shooting her nasty glares, and a Full-Body Bind just barely missed her in the Charms hallway) but it was completely empty.

Madam Pomfrey led Ginny over to the curtained-off bed, shooting her a curious look, but then left with the assurance that she’d be back in ten minutes.

Ginny took a deep breath, and stepped through the curtains. Draco was lying in the bed, a white bandage wrapped around his head, and a frown on his face. He was currently engaged in trying to balance a quill upright on a finger.

He’d managed to hold it there for almost four seconds when he seemed to feel her presence, glanced up, and it fell to the floor, rolling under the bed.

She could see the moment he recognized her: Insta-Sneer.

“Oh, look, it’s the Weaselette,” he snarked, and why did so many nasty words start with S?

“Actually, it’s Ginny,” she said softly, feeling rather apologetic and suspecting that he didn’t know her name. She might have been offended had she not only learned his first name by accident a few weeks ago when Harry had exploded his whole name in a fit of ranting anger.

Draco raised his eyebrows. “Do you honestly think I care?”

Ginny shrugged and remained silent, studying the area around the bed. There were a few flowers already sitting on the windowsill, but not nearly as many get-well-wishes as she would have expected for the Prince of Slytherin.

After a moment of silence, Draco sighed explosively, and glared at her. “All right, what do you want? Come to try assassinating me again?”

Ginny felt her jaw clench, but she remained calm. “No,” she said, “Actually, I came to apologize.”

Draco just rolled his eyes. “Of course, perfect little Gryffindor,” he sneered, (there it was again!) “Well, I don’t want your apologies so fuck off already, will you?”

Ginny stood her ground.

“What? What the hell are you waiting for?”

She took a step closer. “Well, I haven’t said sorry yet.”

Draco blinked. “What are you on about – you just did!”

Ginny grinned suddenly, having unexpected fun. It was actually more fun than hating him was – his confusion was just so satisfying. “No,” she corrected, “I told you that I came here to tell you I was sorry. I never actually said it.”

After blinking at her for several long seconds, Draco spoke. “So, you came here to say what?”

“I’m sorry,” Ginny piped pertly (she was feeling very alliterative today).

Draco smirked. “Well, you just did, so get lost.”

Feeling briefly disappointed upon realizing that she’d been so easily outsmarted, Ginny quickly recovered. “Ah, but I have another reason to be here.”

Draco rolled his eyes again. “What might that be, Red?” he drawled, and Ginny scrunched up her nose.

“If you’re going to call me names that aren’t mine,” she informed him, stepping closer and pulling open her bag, “I’d prefer Weaselette. It’s something of a universal Weasley insult too, but at least it shows that you recognize I’m female.”

At his gape, she added brightly, “But Ginny would be best.”

Before Draco could reply, Ginny pulled the book from her bag and handed it to him. “Here you are. You dropped it on the staircase.”

“Right,” Draco muttered, “after you suddenly decided that I’d make a great trampoline.” Still, he took the book and examined it.

Ginny watched, head cocked to the side, and trying not to think of dragons on great golden nests of coins.

“Er,” he suddenly said, and she blinked out of her daydream to find him eying her a little nervously. She supposed she’d been staring. “This isn’t my book, Weaselette.”

“What?” Ginny asked. “Yes it is – you dropped it!”

“Er, no,” Draco shook his head. “You dropped it.” He tilted the book to show her the words written in silver lettering on the cover. Ginny Weasley.

Ginny blinked, looked closer, and blinked again. “…Oh.”

He looked her over slowly, and smirked. Then he glanced at the book, and back at her, and chuckled.

Ginny felt her ears heating up.

She reached out for the book, but he pulled it back. “No, no, no, you gave this to me, little Weasel.”

Ginny wasn’t quite sure how she could have mistaken her diary (this one didn’t write back, she’d made sure) for a book of Draco’s, and all day long, too, but she didn’t particularly care. She stepped forward just as he was about to try to open it, and snatched it from his fingers, snapping, “It’s none of your business, Draco!”

At first, Ginny didn’t notice anything odd. She was too busy putting the book away in her bag, double-checking to be sure it was safely hidden. But when she looked up, Draco was staring at her, eyes wide.

“What did you just call me?” he asked slowly, and Ginny realized what she’d done.

She hadn’t tried to do it; it was just that she’d been calling him by his first name in her head for about a month now, and it had just popped out.

This was bad.

“Nothing,” Ginny quickly asserted, but his eyes just narrowed. Something about that small movement made her want to spill everything. It was very disconcerting.

“You called me Draco,” he said, still slowly, still staring.

This was very bad.

“So?” Ginny began to babble. “It’s your name, isn’t it? And you know, it’s rather a nice name, even if it is really odd. I mean, it sounds odd but it fits you very nicely, and you really ought to use it more often, because Malfoy just sounds so haughty. Of course, you probably want to sound haughty, but still – and you know, I asked you to use my first name, but you wouldn’t.”

She finished with a glare, and Malfoy took a moment to digest what she’d said, before slowly saying. “All right then… Ginny.”

There was something odd about the way he’d said it, his eyes shining bright gray. Ginny’s own eyes were drawn to his lips, watching as they shaped her name, listening to the timbre of his voice, and for some reason, her heartbeat sped up.

They stared at each other for several more long moments, and then Ginny smiled awkwardly. “Right. Um. I’ll just – you know, I have to – dinner!”

She dashed out, running into Madam Pomfrey coming in on the way, and although she was in a hurry, she could have sworn that she’d heard him say her name again.

~*~*~

She might have expected things to be awkward later. All right, she had known they would be awkward, been certain, because if Draco had spoken her first name, it mean that he no longer thought of her as just a Weasley, just as he was no longer just a Malfoy to her. That had to make things awkward. They were Ginny and Draco now, two entirely new people.

Right?

Ginny thought so, but perhaps she was wrong, because for the next several days, absolutely nothing at all happened. Draco had recovered nicely from his head injury and was back in class the next day, (or so she heard from the Trio’s complaints) but he never seemed to run into Ginny.

She didn’t think he was avoiding her – it was just that they never usually ran into each other. Although she did wonder, when she was staring at him one breakfast-time (she’d been doing so for two weeks, just watching his oddly hypnotic movements and daydreaming about dragons) and he noticed, why he got so pale, and left so soon.

But since she didn’t talk to him, she really wasn’t sure.

And time passed, and there were no visible changes – until the Tuesday the week after she’d concussed him. They were walking in a hallway, going opposite directions, and Draco saw her, and nodded.

Ginny stopped dead, just staring. She was pretty sure that her mouth was gaping wide open, and she was staring, and it was only when Draco smirked at her astonishment that she recovered. Ginny nodded back with dignity, and continued on her way, head held high.

The effect was a bit ruined when she tripped on her robes, and she was pretty sure Draco was laughing at her, but she didn’t care.

~*~*~

Ginny wasn’t quite sure what was wrong with her; but when she’d gotten a less-than-spiffy grade on her Potions assignment, instead of going to Hermione, she used a school owl to send a note to Draco:

Draco,

I’m going to appeal to your ego and say that you are the best Potions student in the school. Everyone knows it. Now that’s been said, I need help. Meet me in the smallest Potions room at 5:30? I’ll pay you a box of chocolate frogs.

Ginny

~*~*~

She turned up, of course, chocolate frogs in hand, and waited for an hour before returning to her room, unexpectedly disappointed. She should have known he wouldn’t come, but for some reason, she’d expected it anyway.

The next morning, a school owl brought her a note in the morning mail.

I had Prefect duty then. Couldn’t come. I’ll be there tonight, 7:00. Bring the frogs and your textbook.

Draco

She noticed he hadn’t written her name at the top; but he hadn’t written Weasley either, and he’d signed it Draco.

Ginny looked up with a beaming grin, and her eyes met gray ones. Draco’s face was serious, and her smile slowly faded as she continued to hold his gaze, but when he glanced away, his cheeks possibly growing a little pink, it returned full-force.

~*~*~

He showed up exactly on time. Ginny had been early, and she was already sitting at a desk, with her Potions book open in front of her. Draco walked over and looked at it briefly, and then launched into a description of Fergyweed, without even a hello.

After an hour of explanations for various things Ginny had not understood in class, she ran out of problems (he was a very good tutor), and Ginny packed her textbook away. “Thanks,” she grinned up at him where he was leaning against the desk, arms crossed.

Draco frowned at her and chewed his lip. “The frogs?” he asked, and Ginny blushed.

“Oh, no! I forgot. Look, I honestly forgot them. I’ll give them to you tomorrow, all right? I’m so sorry – ”

She was cut off when Draco took a step forward, eyes intent on hers. Well, she wasn’t exactly cut off, seeing as he wasn’t saying anything at all, but that was certainly what it felt like.

Something about Draco’s gaze on her made Ginny blush even more, and she felt her ears heat up. Draco frowned, and leaned a bit closer, eying her incredibly intently.

“What’s wrong with you?” he muttered, seemingly to himself. “You’re not acting at all right.”

Ginny opened her mouth to say something, blinked, and only managed to breathe in a short gasp of air.

And then Draco was gone, robes whipping around the door behind him.

~*~*~

It really wasn’t fair.

Ginny wasn’t sure what she’d expected this time, either. She’d sent him the frogs by school owl the next morning, and watched him take the package and stuff it in his bag, without either so much as opening it, or glancing in her direction.

And that was it for another four days. And then here they were, in the library, both of them, Ginny sitting at a table, studying, and Draco standing above her.

They were in a secluded corner of the library, and the only two there; Draco could either sit with her or choose a seat at a totally empty table.

Guess which one he chose?

Ginny scowled at the back of his head for several long moments, before deciding not to take this lying down. She stood and gathered her things, noting with interest how Draco stiffened at the sounds.

Then she walked over, and set them all down on his table, sitting in the seat next to him.

Draco had begun writing an essay, and he took the time to finish his sentence, before he put his quill down, and slowly lifted his head to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

“Hello, Draco,” Ginny smiled, sitting down. “What are you working on?”

He stared at her for a long, long moment, then, without a word, turned back to his essay, dipping his quill in the ink and beginning a new sentence. Ginny noticed that it was the same quill from the hospital wing.

She huffed her disapproval of his slight, and turned to her own work without another word.

Ginny finished her Herbology homework quickly, and stood first. She took a moment to eye Draco, taking in the pale curve of his neck, his bent head, and his scribbling hand, fingers flecked in black ink.

She checked out a book on dragons on her way out.

~*~*~

It was actually very interesting stuff. Ginny was surprised at just how interesting it really was. Dragons had always been Charlie’s territory, not hers. Well, actually, Ginny didn’t think she’d ever had anything of her own before.

Quite aside from hand-me-downs, there was just the fact that her brothers had taken all the callings. Charlie got animals, Bill took travel and money. Percy had politics, and Fred and George had jokes. Ron… Well, Ron had Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and saving the wizarding world. And Ginny was left behind, a Weasley, but not an important one. The one girl in a family of boys.

Except now – well, now she had something that none of them had ever had, something none of them had ever wanted. Ginny was going to be the first Weasley to step outside of the comfort zone. The first one to make peace with a Slytherin – with a Malfoy.

Ginny had Draco.

~*~*~

As she read through her book on dragons, Ginny began to understand Draco better and better.

She learned that dragons were solitary creatures, but that they raised their young and were fiercely protective, and some species mated for life. Dragons collected treasures and lived in deep dark caves, in nests of gold and jewels. They loved to fly. Dragons were fiercely competitive, and if they sensed a threat, they attacked immediately and did not let up until either it or they were dead – but only if it was something the dragon thought could defeat; they knew when they were outgunned. Dragons were very intelligent and proud creatures, but were not above fighting dirty. Dragons were also picky eaters, but enjoyed hunting down food just for fun sometimes, just to make other animals or people flee before their might.

When Ginny returned the book to the library, she looked at Draco in a new light.

~*~*~

Ginny had been wondering for a while if Draco knew that there was a constellation with the same name as he, but she hadn’t expected to find out this way.

She walked forward slowly and sat down on the hill next to him, watching the sun setting over the lake.

“Hey, Draco,” Ginny smiled casually. Draco glared at her, and pulled up a handful of grass by the roots.

They watched the sun set for a while in somewhat companionable silence. Ginny was eager for the stars to come out, as though having Draco beside her would make the dim stars that held his name shine brighter.

Just as the sun began to fade behind the lake, only a thin sliver left visible, Draco turned to look at her. His face was already in shadow, his features a little difficult to make out.

“You know what?” he said abruptly, “I give up.” Something about his voice made Ginny turn to meet his gaze. She had sat down close to him, and now his shoulder, which had shifted closer when he spun to look at her, was brushing her own. Ginny was mildly surprised at the body heat that emanated from it, only to remember – Though they are frequently called reptiles, the fire within them makes dragons warm-blooded, a class of their own.

“I have no idea what you want from me, and you know what? I don’t care!” Draco threw his hands in the air for emphasis. “Look, I’m not even nice to you – why don’t you just leave me the hell alone? Why are you here?”

Ginny actually took the time to consider the question before answering. “Well,” she said slowly, not very sure of herself at all, “I like your name, Draco.”

He opened his mouth to say something, paused, closed it, and stared at her for a long moment. Ginny knew she was blushing – her ears felt on fire – but she couldn’t quite look away.

“What.” Draco was still staring at her. “Are. You. Talking. About. I’m a Malfoy! You – you’re a Weasley! How can you like my name?”

Ginny was honestly surprised by this. “No, not Malfoy,” she told him, shaking her head. “Draco.”

Draco’s eyes narrowed. “Is that why you keep on calling me by my first name, then? You like how it sounds?” His voice was mocking.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “No. ‘Draco’ sounds weird. It’s a weird name.”

“Then why – ”

“But it suits you!” Ginny jumped to her feet. “Draco. The Dragon. Haven’t you ever heard of the constellation? Or – or – just, a dragon! Think about it!”

Draco, looked up at her, frowned, and shrugged.

Ginny groaned, and she opened her mouth to explain, but then her eyes got wide with realization. What was she doing?

“Um – I gotta go,” she whispered, and dashed off.

She could feel Draco staring after her, but he didn’t call her back.

~*~*~

Ginny thought that it was odd that she kept running into Draco lately, but it didn’t happen often enough for her to think that he was trying to make it happen.

Especially since, when they found themselves alone in an empty hallway on the fourth floor (walking in the same direction), the first thing he said upon seeing her was, “Why are you following me?”

Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I’m not.”

Draco scoffed, but didn’t pursue the argument. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Get lost.”

“I have just as much right to be here as you.” Ginny wasn’t in the best of moods today. She had just gotten out of History, where Professor Binns had failed her presentation on the Troll Attacks of 1854, which she had been up all night working on. She had missed breakfast, and now Draco was being his stupid, idiotic draconic self, not realizing that they were friends.

Apparently he was in a bad mood too, because he suddenly whirled on Ginny and snapped, “Just leave me alone before I hex you, alright?”

Ginny glared right back, and for once she was angry enough to call him on something she’d recently noticed. “Oh, stuff it, Draco! You don’t hate me nearly as much as you think you do!”

Draco blinked, and two red spots grew in his cheeks. “Wh-what are you talking about?” he snarled. “Do you think I enjoy being stalked all over school by some stupid little blood-traitor?”

“Yes!” Ginny actually shouted. “Yes, you do, Draco! And do you know how I know that, huh? Do you know?” Draco, surprised by her vehemence, took several steps back, but Ginny just advanced even closer. “I know you like me, because in the entire two months I’ve been talking to you, this is the FIRST time you’ve ever threatened to hex me! If you didn’t like me, you would have just hexed me a long time ago, warning or no!”

“That’s not – ”

But Draco was unequipped for an angry Ginny, and she rode right over his words, “And, and, this is this first time you’ve insulted me in, how long? Two months?” She shot him a triumphant look. “You haven’t called me Weasel or Red or even Weaselette in forever! I mean, you haven’t called me Ginny either, because you’re too scared to admit that you like me, but you do!” Ginny walked right up to Draco and shoved him in the chest with a pointed finger. “We are friends, Draco Malfoy, like it or not, and maybe you should act like one once in a while!”

And then Ginny stormed off, tears in her eyes, leaving him bewildered and backed against a wall, staring after her.

~*~*~

Surprisingly enough, it was Dean Thomas who came to comfort her. And one thing led to another, and next thing Ginny knew, she was dating him. And it was great, because they really got along and he noticed her, noticed and wanted Ginny.

But she couldn’t help but watch Draco once in a while, missing those dragon daydreams and one-way conversations.

~*~*~

The night that she broke up with Dean was exactly one month and three days later. She wasn’t even sure why, because she’d always liked him a lot once they started dating. And yet, she didn’t now. She had no idea when it happened, but it had, and now Ginny was incredibly confused.

So, late at night, she slipped down into the kitchens (Fred had told her where they were and George had told her how to get in) for a midnight snack, because that always made her feel better.

She was cooking herself hot cocoa on the stove when the door opened and Draco stepped in. They stared at each other for a long time, before Ginny quickly turned away and took her finished hot chocolate off, pouring it into a mug. She didn’t look at him, but when he silently handed her a second mug, Ginny filled that one, too. She had just set the pan down, and was about to take her mug and just get out of there – because when she had lost it, and yelled to Draco that they were friends, they had stopped being them – but when she turned around, Draco was right there in front of her, blocking her only path of escape.

“Draco – ” Ginny began, but stopped when he tilted his head to the side and looked at her, exactly the way he had when he’d tutored her and she’d forgotten the chocolate frogs. And just like then, she lost her breath immediately, and couldn’t do anything but stare back, heartbeat increasing and lungs not really working.

Draco studied her for a moment, gray eyes capturing her own and doing very, very strange things to her pulse. Then he smiled slightly, and said, “Ginny.”

That was all. Just the one word.

But the word was her name, and it was all that she needed to break, to step forward (or fall, depending on your point of view) and wrap herself up in his arms, sobs wracking her body, face buried in his shoulder.

Draco took a step back at the sudden force of her body impacting with his, but he didn’t shove her off, which was good because Ginny wasn’t sure he’d be able to. Though he didn’t look it, Draco was the perfect size for hugging, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it when he hesitantly patted a hand on her shoulder, obviously trying to comfort her, in an out-of-touch-with-his-emotions Malfoy, or actually just boy, way.

When Ginny finally stopped crying, and drew back, her face was flushed bright red, and her ears burning at the look she knew would be on his face. Once she looked at him, that was.

But Draco just reached around her, picked up his cocoa (a little cold now) and took a sip.

“What’s wrong, then?” he asked, and Ginny spilled her guts.

~*~*~

Draco, once he was actually friends with Ginny, was a lot like Tom Riddle, except not living inside a diary or forcing her to unleash a basilisk on the school. He listened incredibly well and knew just what to say to make her feel better – even if he didn’t always say it. Even though he could never quite bring himself to admit that they were friends, he called her Ginny now and that was good enough. And he smiled sometimes, and that was even better.

But somehow, Ginny wasn’t satisfied, and she had no idea why.

~*~*~

She still watched him at breakfast, and dragon-daydreamed, and it was on one such occasion that it occurred to her what was going on. He was eating toast again, and right in the middle of one bite, when he noticed her and sent her an unobtrusive nod, the words popped into Ginny’s head: Dragons are solitary creatures, but they raise their young and are fiercely protective, and some species mate for life.

Ginny choked on her orange juice, spewing it across the table, and her face went from pale to tomato in seconds. Her ears burnt.

Some species mate for life.

Draco took a drink from his goblet and Ginny was momentarily entranced by the way his throat moved when he swallowed.

Oh no.

~*~*~

She left the Great Hall at nearly a run, but even so had only gotten to the beginning of the main staircase when Draco caught up with her. “Ginny?”

Ginny choked on nothing, spinning around and shaking her head. “Go away! Leave me alone!”

Draco looked confused. “What – Ginny – ”

“Go away, okay Malfoy?”

Her tone wasn’t even incredibly strong just then, but at the last word his face shut down immediately, and he spun and left without another word. Ginny moaned, and ran the rest of the way back to the dormitory, until she could throw herself on her bed and sob.

~*~*~

Things… didn’t go so well for Ginny for a while. She had never known just how much of her day involved Draco until she tried to cut him out of it. No one talked to her at breakfast because she usually sat alone and watched him as she ate. She usually went missing during free time, to go and study or to talk to Draco, and when Ginny flipped through her diary (that she had once thought belonged to him) she couldn’t find a single page that didn’t have his name at least twice, except for in the first ten or so pages.

She cried a lot, and dragons haunted her dreams, sharp eyes and voices saying her name, the words expelled in gouts of flame from great scaly bodies that were warm to the touch.

~*~*~

Ginny thought it was rather ironic that now she managed to find her way to the astronomy tower. That now she was able, consulting a borrowed book, to finally find Draco, shining (not very brightly) in the sky.

She also thought it was ironic that Draco chose that exact moment to tap her on the shoulder. Ginny jumped and began to scream, but he clamped a strong hand over her mouth, obviously expecting such a reaction.

“Calm down, Weaselette,” he smirked, and Ginny’s heart thumped a little too hard.

“Don’t call me that,” she hissed, pulling free of his hand. Draco just chuckled.

“So, I’ve been wondering,” he said, taking a step closer to her. Ginny took a step back.

“Wondering what?”

“Wondering,” Draco said heavily, taking another step, “Exactly why you suddenly decided you wanted to be my friend – and why you suddenly decided you didn’t.”

Ginny’s second step had brought her right into the wall, so she had nowhere to retreat to when he took a third step forward.

But she wasn’t a Gryffindor for nothing, and she straightened bravely. “It’s nothing, Malfoy,” she said, and he flinched. “Or at least, none of your business. Just leave me alone, all right?”

As she brushed past him and down the staircase, she made sure to bump the telescope so that it was no longer pointing at Draco.

~*~*~

Ginny didn’t come into any sort of contact with Draco at all for another two weeks, and when she did, it wasn’t expected at all. She was on a date – her first since Dean, and she kept trying not to compare him to a different boy – and as they walked back from the lake (it had been a picnic) she noticed Draco flying alone around the Quidditch pitch, a silver-green blur. And for a reason that she didn’t quite want to delve into, she told Sean (he was a Ravenclaw) to go on without her, and that it had been fun. He seemed to get the hidden message, and gave her a sad smile before continuing up towards the castle.

Ginny turned, and started to walk towards the pitch, but it wasn’t necessary. A dragon was headed for her in a dive, zooming along at top speed, bent low to the broom, determination on his face.

He skidded to a halt right in front of her, only four feet from the ground, and leapt from the broom to walk towards her. His hair was blown back by the wind, as were his robes, and he looked tired and sweaty. “Ginny,” he said, still walking forward, and Ginny, confused and doubtful, responded before she thought better of it.

“Draco – ” was all she got out, because at that word, a look of pure something shot across his face, and Draco came to a halt in front of her, hands grabbing her shoulders.

He’s going to throw me in the lake! Ginny thought, making no sense, as the lake was quite a ways away. But she was wrong.

Incredibly wrong.

Draco let go of her shoulders almost as soon as he’d grabbed hold of them, and shook his head, turning away from her, one hand burying itself in his hair as he paced in a circle.

“No, no…” he was muttering to himself, and Ginny swallowed hard.

“Draco? What’s – ”

“Oh, so it’s Draco again now, is it?” Draco snapped, and then swore suddenly to himself, still pacing restlessly in front of her.

“Yes – I mean no, I mean – look, I’m sorry, Draco. I’ve been horrible, and I’m sorry.”

“Oh, yeah,” Draco said sarcastically, and then muttered something else under his breath. All Ginny caught was maybe the word boy.

“What?” she asked, confused, and then “Nevermind. Draco, look, I… I’m really sorry. But – but why do you even care? You never even wanted to be friends with me anyway.”

At this, Draco choked, his hand falling free from his hair. “Why – why do I care?” he asked incredulously, and Ginny nodded.

He approached her, and his eyes were doing that thing again, and she couldn’t do anything, anything at all.

“I’ll show you why,” Draco snarled, stepping towards her until his shoes were touching hers, and their robes were dangling together. Barely an inch of air remained in-between them.

Ginny sucked in a long, low breath. “Draco?”

At the sound of his name, his eyes flashed once, and he reached out – and then Ginny was suddenly wrapped up in surprisingly warm arms, one holding her by the chin, the other wrapped around the back of her head, fingers curled in her hair.

And Draco was kissing her.

Incredibly fiercely, as if everything depended on it, his lips covering hers and forcing her to open her own, his tongue melting her mouth, her eyes closing and his hand on her chin stroking her cheek. His other hand clenching and unclenching in her hair.

Dragons are passionate creatures.

~*~*~

When Draco pulled away, he was panting heavily, his eyes slightly unfocused, and he didn’t let go of either Ginny’s cheek or her hair.

“That’s – why – ” he gasped, and then he was staring at Ginny like she was something beautiful.

“I – oh…” Ginny couldn’t seem to talk, and Draco was still right there, so close she couldn’t think, either. “But – you don’t – I can’t – ”

“Shut up,” Draco said suddenly, right as Ginny was starting to remember who she was – who they­ were – and just why she had distanced herself from him in the first place. “Shut up, Ginny.”

Then he’d dragged her forward again, and she was being kissed again, kissed so violently and passionately that she had to kiss back. Her own hands, which had just sort of been sitting around idly the first time, somehow snuck up around Draco’s neck, holding his head down to hers, and when one of them somehow ended up in his hair, Draco made a strained noise, something longing and finding and driving her mad.

“God, god – Draco – ”

Ginny couldn’t say anything else – she didn’t even know why she’d pulled back from him. She felt cold all over, once out of his arms, and she put a hand to her forehead, wondering if there was something wrong with her.

Draco stood still where she’d left him, staring at her. They were both still breathing heavily, and Ginny knew she was blushing everywhere.

“Why?” Ginny suddenly blurted, and Draco shook his head, still just staring at her.

“I could ask you the same question,” he said in a low voice that he’d never used before.

“But we – you – ”

“Ginny – ” he started, but Ginny shook her head, trying to clear it.

“No. No.”

Draco swallowed, and Ginny could hear it in the stillness that surrounded them. She felt like ice, ice that he was boiling up, prey that the dragon had hunted down and was eating alive, and she couldn’t even think enough to know if that was a good or a bad thing.

She looked up at the sky suddenly, closed her eyes. She could still feel him watching her. When she opened them, she felt tears.

“Did you know what I was doing, that night in the Astronomy Tower?” Ginny asked, and Draco shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers.

She laughed weakly. “I – was looking at Draco.”

Draco’s eyes squeezed tight closed, and when he opened them and spoke, his voice had an odd sort of strain to it. “Did you find it?”

Ginny nodded. “The stars aren’t very bright so it’s harder to see, but I’d gotten it by the time you arrived.”

Draco’s hands clenched into fists at his sides and he nodded curtly. Ginny looked at him and shook her head slowly, “You’re a dragon, Draco. You really are.”

Draco stared at her, and Ginny laughed shakily, stepping forward. His gaze instantly went to her advancing feet, then flicked back up to her face, his normally closed-off face suddenly looking very vulnerable.

“Ginny – ” he began again, but Ginny cut him off.

“Ginny, that’s right,” she said. “Ginny and Draco.”

And she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself up to him. Draco stiffened and drew in a breath, one hand instantly landing in her hair, gripping into the thick red mass.

Ginny leaned up close to his lips and whispered, “Just Ginny and Draco.”

And then she kissed him.