Something to Believe
Chapter Twelve: Daydream
---
Ginny ran to the foyer and ignoring the fact that both of her brothers were extremely laden with parcels, she launched herself at them, an arm around each of their waists.
"Fred! George! My favorite boys, am I glad to see you!"
"Do you hear this girl, George? She saw us yesterday and completely ignored us. And now look, pretending she likes us, so we'll give her treats."
"Excuse me," Ginny stood back with her hands on her hips. The twins headed to the study, acting affronted. Ginny followed. "But you two were too busy with Order business to even look my way! Besides I wanted to catch up with Daddy."
"Catch up with dad-dy!" mimicked Fred, in a high-pitched voice. Much to Ginny's chagrin, it sounded a lot like Malfoy's impersonation of her.
"I do not sound like that," she cried, stomping one foot.
"Malfoy, here are the things you asked for," said George, handing him a wooden crate, tied up in twine. And Fred rummaged in his pocket a moment, before withdrawing a small paper-wrapped packet.
"And this is from Longbottom," he said, handing it to Draco.
"You run into any trouble?" Draco asked, looking at the twins meaningfully.
"Well," George started, with a sideways glance at Ginny, "The shop's being guarded by Aurors. Haven't had any disturbances, though we noticed a few shifty looking gents hovering about the storefront."
"You mean because of what happened with us in Knockturn Alley?" Ginny asked.
"Word is getting around that Draco Malfoy was seen today with two women, one of them a red-haired freckle-faced Weasley," Fred said. "Fortunately Tonks wasn't recognized, or she'd be locked up in here with you two." Ginny rolled her eyes.
"What's all the rest of this?" Draco indicated the boxes and shopping bags they were holding.
"Well, Tonks told us that ickle Ginnykins wanted to visit the shop," said George.
"So, as good brothers should, we packed up some of our finest products and decided to bring them around to cheer up our ickle baby sister!"
"Who said I need cheering up, then?" asked Ginny, laughing, as she peered into a box in George's arms.
"Mum did. And Tonks. And Dad. Well, you get the picture. We hear you've been knitting, for Merlin's sake!" said Fred, looking aghast.
"See! That's how bored I've been. Now please tell me you've brought me at least some candy that's edible," she rummaged in a small shopping bag that was dangling from Fred's pinky.
"Could we dump this junk in your room? It's just a tad heavy," groaned Fred.
"Just a smidgeon," murmured George, as he watched a small box fall from the top of the stack he held in his arms.
---
Fred and George were settled comfortably on her bed, while Ginny, sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes, bags, and packages, looked through the things they brought for her.
"A Daydream Charm?" She looked at the box, slightly apprehensively.
"It's our newest version. It's rather good," George said, waggling his eyebrows. Ginny laughed.
"Besides you can use it when you want to tune out Malfoy," Fred suggested. He leaned over and grabbed a large cloth sack. He handed it to her. "This was from Mum. Just some stuff she baked, and a few of your clothes, like you asked."
"You got some parcel by owl, Mum put it in there," added George, motioning to the bag.
"Oh, must be from Colin. He promised he'd send me some pictures from our times at Hogwarts," replied Ginny, finding the package and opening it. She was amazed to see that he had arranged the magical photos in an album. Fred snatched it from her hands and started flipping through it.
Ginny pouted and turned to the rest of the contents of the sack. George leaned back on an elbow and grinned at her, wickedly.
"You'll notice that we included some of our favorite pranks..."
Fred piped in, "You know, to use on Malfoy..."
"Because whether or not the git's on our side..."
"He'd deserve everything you throw at him."
Ginny looked up to see the matching devious smiles on the twins' faces.
"I'm not starting a stupid little prank war. Besides, he'd tell Mum on me!"
They looked mightily disappointed.
"And it'd be rather obvious who did it - I'm the only one in the house!"
"You can try out some of the subtler things - change his hair to Gryff colors and see how long it takes him to notice."
"Or slip a Babbling Potion in his drink and blackmail him with stuff he blurts out!" suggested Fred.
"Come on, Ginny, we thought you were one of ours! Besides if Mum ever finds out, we give you permission to blame it on us," continued George.
"Well, I guess if something strange were to find it's way into his morning tea...it wouldn't be so wrong..."
The twins grinned at her. George pretended to wipe away a tear, as Fred said, "That's our girl!"
Ginny picked out a large chocolate bar from the pile of candy. She inspected it closely, and looked at the twins. George merely shrugged, and Fred suggested they share it. She split that bar into three and offered her brothers each a piece. She watched them each take a bite, before doing so herself.
"So, what'd you bring for Draco?"
"He asked for some potions ingredients. Just a couple of rare things that you can't get on Diagon Alley," answered Fred, through a mouthful of chocolate.
"Things you can't get in Knockturn Alley either?"
The twins exchanged an uncomfortable look and remained silent.
"I see. I wonder if I should be telling Mum about this conversation."
"Please, Ginny - it's bad enough as it is!" muttered Fred.
"After our fiasco with the Instant Darkness Powder..." George started and Fred murmured "Damn that devious bastard Malfoy." George continued, "We're supposed to be more careful about selling our wares."
"Not to mention the fact that the Order has asked us to make each of our products with some sort of 'backdoor' in them."
"That way, if we find that our enemies -"
"Death-Eaters," said Fred, rolling his eyes and using his fingers to quote in midair.
"- are using our goods, the Order will have a way of deactiving them."
"Pretty clever, actually. It was Hermione's idea."
"And since only Order members get to know the backdoor spells, they can still use the products without worrying -"
"Wait - what about me?" cried Ginny, indignantly, cramming the rest of her chocolate in her mouth.
"Well, shouldn't be a problem for you, little sis," said Fred, grinning.
"As you aren't allowed -"
"- out of the house -"
"- ever again!"
"Problem solved!" The twins said this together, high-fiving each other, as if her house-arrest was their idea.
"I swear, everyone's out to baby me!"
"Well, you are the baby!"
"I'm 16, for Merlin's sake!"
"Be that as it may, Ginny-girl, you are too precious to be involved in all this war nonsense," said George, with a rare look of sincerity on his face.
"We know that you can defend yourself, hell, you've proven that dozens of times, but we love you too much -"
"- to simply let you run around during wartime."
"If anything were to happen to you - I don't think I could ever smile again!" Fred laid back in her bed, throwing his wrist to his brow, feinting a faint.
"Honestly!" Ginny chucked the Daydream Charm package at Fred and laughed when it hit his forehead. He sprang from the bed and soon both twins wrestled her to the ground and proceeded to tickle her.
"Oh, god - Help! Help me!" she shrieked, struggling to breath and laughing all at once.
Ginny was sure she was about to wet herself, when her bedroom door slammed open. The twins ceased their attack, and the three of them looked up from the floor. Draco was standing in the doorway, looking furious, with his wand drawn. He hesitated a moment and slowly lowered it, scowling.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, I thought you were in real trouble."
"I was!"
And with that, the twins continued their assault, causing Ginny to scream out. Fred was holding back her arms while George mercilessly wriggled his fingers on her stomach. She started kicking about, yelling for them to stop. Draco stood, fixated, watching with a look of disgust on his face.
"Please - help me!" Ginny cried when George's hands went to her armpits. Fred threw a bored look over to Draco.
"We'll be with you in a mo', Malfoy. Business to take care of, you see."
Ginny managed to wriggle away from Fred's grip while he was distracted. She crawled on the floor, near Draco's feet, gasping for breath. She used the door frame to help her stand.
"Oh sweet Circe," she sighed, slumping forward to catch her breath. She pulled the elastic from her hair, freeing the completely messy ponytail.
The twins stood up, dusted themselves off, and turned their attention to Draco, who was staring down at the girl beside him as though he'd never seen her before. His brow was furrowed and they could make out a small smile on his lips.
"Malfoy, if you're through staring at our baby sister -" Draco was startled by George's words and looked up at the twins, swallowing.
"- we'll bid you adieu!"
Draco watched as Fred ruffled Ginny's hair. She watched him disdainfully, as this was fairly normal procedure, a common way any Weasley boy might say goodbye to his little sister.
"We have to head back to the store now to close up. Poor Verity must be swamped. Now you behave yourself, Ginevra!" Fred said, attempting a frown worthy of McGonagall.
"Bye, Malfoy," George said, while wriggling his fingers through Ginny's hair, messing it up even further. "Send us a message, if you need anything, don't hesitate."
They both shuffled past Draco, who was leaning against the door frame, once again looking down at Ginny. She could hear the twins whispering to each other all the down the stairs, and finally the front door was opened and closed, leaving the house in an awkward silence.
Ginny reached up, and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to tame it down. She heard Draco snort under his breath.
"What?"
She walked over to the pile of things on the floor, dropped to her knees, and started to arrange them.
"Nothing," Draco whispered, turning away and heading back down the stairs.
---
Ginny knocked softly at the study door and pushed it open. She had a bar of chocolate in her pocket, her knitting in one hand and her new photo book in the other. She expected to see Draco by the desk, chopping this or grinding that. Instead, she found the deskchair empty and the room to be darkened, only a low red glow coming from the fireplace. She nearly turned back to venture to the kitchen, but she saw his outline sitting on the hearthrug.
She approached him, quietly, and joined him next to the dying embers in the fireplace. He was staring silently at his Dark Mark and hastily pulled down his sleeve while she set aside her knitting and her album and pulled out the candy.
"You want some?"
"Is it safe?"
"One way to find out," Ginny said, smiling and offering him half the bar. He eyed the chocolate carefully and waited until she swallowed her first bite before nibbling slowly.
"What are you doing in the dark?" she asked, pointedly. She heard him swallow and his eyes went to the small silk rug underneath them.
"Thinking."
"Well, good for you! Never too late to start," she grinned at him, shoving the rest of the chocolate into her mouth and pulling her knitting into her lap. She'd started working on a scarf for Bill - a red and black combination.
Draco continued sitting dejectedly beside her, the chocolate between his fingers forgotten.
"Ok, sorry," she shrugged, "I'm supposed to ask what you were thinking about. So what - "
"I don't want to talk about it right now."
Ginny stabbed herself with one of her needles and groaned. "Merlin, I can't even see what I'm doing..."
Draco stirred, and a sideways glance told Ginny that he was reaching for his wand. He waved it and the fire seemed to roar with life. The sudden heat made her wiggle a few inches back.
"That better?" he asked, still staring morosely at the rug.
"No," she set aside her knitting. "Tell me what's bothering you?" Ginny turned to face him, she leaned back and supported herself with one hand. And she waited, allowing him time to say whatever he wanted. A few minutes passed in silence, and just when her mind started to wander, he spoke.
"I was just thinking about how you act with your brothers."
"Oh?"
"And I was just wishing that I had a relationship like that with someone. Unconditional love and all that nonsense."
"You have your mum," she suggested, hopefully.
"Yes. In a way. But she'd never acts like that – I mean she loves me more than anything and she does everything to show it... but it's never as open as..."
"You have my mum," she added. "She's taken a quite a liking to you."
"And how do you figure that?" he asked, gracefully lying back on his elbows, his pale pointed face looking up at her lazily. Ginny couldn't help but admire the view.
"Well, the fact that she does your laundry. And that she always serves you first during meals - plus she makes sure you have seconds and thirds."
"That doesn't mean that she likes me - "
"It does. If she didn't like you - you'd be doing your own laundry. And she wouldn't be forcing me to cook your meals - she'd be making you fend for yourself. Besides, she really must like you if she'd want her only daughter to stay here with you."
Draco smiled as he considered that.
"I think you remind her of Harry, in a way."
Draco gaped at her a moment before sitting up straight. "What!"
"No, really! I think you seem like a lost little boy to her, at times."
"Well...obviously she...but..." he sputtered, his voice trailing off.
"Yeah, that," Ginny grinned, pointing at his face. He smirked at her. "That was it, right there. That look always gets right to the heart of my mum," Ginny sighed.
"I am not a lost little boy!" Draco seemed to find his voice, along with his indignation.
"You going to eat that or what?" Ginny looked down to see the chunk of chocolate was smushed between his index and thumb. He looked at it, wrinkling his nose.
Acting without a thought, Ginny grabbed his wrist and guided the candy to her mouth. She took a big bite and chewed. Draco was frozen with a look of shock and horror on his face.
"What?"
"You..."
"What? It's melting, you better finish it now. It's rather good."
Ginny's breath hitched in her throat when she saw the way he continued to eye the candy in hand. His eyes trailed up to her slender fingers around his wrist. Her hand looked so small compared to his. He blinked slowly and brought his eyes to her lips. She licked them self-consciously, and saw his gaze intensify.
Not quite knowing where the burst of courage came from, she lifted his wrist again, taking another bite, and then moved the chocolate to his lips. He popped the rest of the candy in his mouth.
"It is rather good," he murmured, hoarsely, licking his fingers, his cool gray eyes not leaving her face. Ginny felt her mouth go dry, her eyes glued to his lips and his tongue flicking across this thumb.
She gently pried her fingers from his wrist, and they suddenly felt rather cold without the contact.
Finally managing to avert her eyes, she looked down beside her at the album, and idly running her fingertips across it, as she slowed down her breathing.
"What's that?" His deep voice rumbled near her ear, nearly a whisper. He was pointing at the album, and with a swift motion of his fingers, he gestured for Ginny to hand it over. She didn't think to disobey him.
Draco heaved a soft sigh, and from her proximity, she could nearly taste the chocolate on his breath. She felt herself blushing against her will. Thankfully, he was rather distracted looking through the album.
He flipped several pages, looking bored. They were mostly pictures of her. Starting from second year, all the way through her fifth.
"Oho!" he said, pushing the book into her hands. "Who's this handsome devil?" Ginny tilted her head, leaning in to take a look.
It was a picture of the Gryffindor quidditch team after a game. They had their arms draped over each others' shoulders, Ginny was by far the smallest, standing beside Ron, who towered over her, his arm around her shoulders. She was grinning and waving - they'd won that game.
In the background, where Draco was pointing, was a familiar blond boy, dressed in green quidditch robes, who was making funny faces. Ginny looked up at the real Draco Malfoy to see him making similar faces. She laughed.
"I know that cad - would you like an introduction?"
"I'd like to meet this little blossoming flower here," he said.
She looked down to see his finger pointing at the image of herself. The Ginny in the photograph, in her dirty quidditch robes and clutching her ancient hand-me-down broom, brushed the hair back from her face and blushed.
"You're quite the charmer," she whispered, as he smirked and took the book back. He continued flipping through pages, pouring over each picture, seeming to take in every detail.
"What're your favorite colors, Draco? Besides green and silver. And not black," she said, picking up her knitting again.
"Why, you going to make me one of those scarves? Honestly, I'll likely never leave this house again, so bloody good it'll do me," he said, slamming the album shut and stretching to put it on the table behind him.
"I could make you some socks," she suggested - "Or maybe I could figure out how to make a jumper..."
"No, thank you. I'll pass on the scratchy wool."
"Well, I have no idea what to give you for Christmas," she sighed, tugging at the tangled red yarn.
"That's not for ages. And you don't have to get me anything."
"Hmm, we'll see, I guess."
"And certainly don't expect much from me. With my new budget and inability to go out shopping..." his voice trailed off and he silently stared into the flames.
After a few moments of silence, Draco yawned widely. He stood and stretched, drawing Ginny's eyes from her knitting. A flash of pale skin was exposed when his shirt rode up his stomach. He rolled his shoulders and straightened up, turning his cool, gray eyes to her.
"I'm going to bed. We'll start working on preparing the ingredients tomorrow. And don't touch anything in the ice box. I've put a few things in there to chill."
"Alright. I guess I'd better go to bed, too," Ginny tossed her knitting on a table and reached for the album. "Would you mind putting out the fire?"
And with a spell, the room was completely dark. Instinctively, Ginny reached out, blindly, and her fingers brushed across Draco's arm. She grabbed it tightly and let him guide her from the room.
"I meant on our way out, you prat," she muttered. She heard his soft laugh just as the passed through to the foyer. A dim bluish light shone in from the window and as Ginny's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to make out his tall profile.
He cast Lumos and they started up the stairs together.
"Good night," Ginny called, watching Draco enter his room from her doorway.
"'Night," he answered, closing his door softly.
---
After brushing her teeth, washing her face, changing into her white nightdress, and brushing her long hair for about fifteen minutes in front of a mirror, Ginny still couldn't get the flash of Draco's stomach, the feel of his biceps, or his husky voice out of her head. She decided that she should try to get some sleep.
She padded to her bed, and pulled back the covers. She gasped.
On her crisp faded pink sheets, lay a small colorful box. A Daydream Charm, specialty item from Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Ginny groaned, picking it up, remembering throwing it at Fred. She crawled into bed, and pulled the covers up to her waist. She spun the box idly, in her hands.
"Oh, why not," she whispered, opening it quickly.
---
Oh. George was right. This is quite nice.
Ginny was flying on a broom, her hair streaming behind her, over a field of purple and orange wildflowers, the afternoon sun warming her skin. She sped up, did some turns and loops, relishing in the realistic feeling.
She spotted something golden gleaming in the light, in front of her. A snitch! As Ginny reached forward to grab it, something zoomed by - a blur of green - and the snitch was gone. Disappointed, and curious, Ginny searched for the green blur.
It was off to her left, moving fast, towards the ground. She followed.
Her bare feet touched the ground, and she was buried to her knees in flowers. Ginny looked down to find herself clad in a light sundress. She dropped her broom.
A few feet away was a man, his back turned to her. She reached forward and grabbed his green cloak. He spun around, the cloak falling from his shoulders.
His white-blond hair shone brightly in the warm sunlight, a golden halo around his face. He was smiling, his lips spread wide, his striking gray eyes crinkling. He was relaxed and happy and glowing. He looked extraordinarily handsome, dressed in a simple white oxford shirt and jeans.
"Draco?"
He grinned wider, and he held up the snitch between his fingers.
"Looking for this?" he laughed.
She smiled and reached for it, and he held it just out of reach. It felt oddly familiar to her. Laughing, she reached out again, and he held the snitch high above his head. Her hands trailed up his chest and up his arm, as far as she could reach on tiptoe.
He turned, pulling her closer to him. She gave a small jump, brushing against his body, making another attempt for the snitch. Another small jump sent them tumbling to the ground, both of them laughing, surrounded by walls of wildflowers and grass.
Ginny landed, straddling him, her long hair covering his face. She brushed back the strands to find him looking up at her.
Slowly, the smile dropped from his face, and he stared at her a moment, before wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him.
Dropping all pretenses, snitch completely forgotten, Ginny reached to the nape of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Their lips meet briefly; both of them, shocked by the contact, pulled away. Draco buried his hand in her hair and raised his lips to hers, firmly and possessively, and he growled into her mouth...
---
It was about twenty minutes later when Ginny's eyes refocused. She was panting and blinking rapidly. She brushed back the hair from her face, and looked down at the torn package in her hand with wide eyes, her mind racing with images from the daydream.
When her breathing was finally even, and sleep about to take her, she wondered if there were any more Daydream Charms in the piles of products on her desk.
Her eyes closed and her last thoughts were of purple wildflowers and snitches.
Chapter Twelve: Daydream
---
Ginny ran to the foyer and ignoring the fact that both of her brothers were extremely laden with parcels, she launched herself at them, an arm around each of their waists.
"Fred! George! My favorite boys, am I glad to see you!"
"Do you hear this girl, George? She saw us yesterday and completely ignored us. And now look, pretending she likes us, so we'll give her treats."
"Excuse me," Ginny stood back with her hands on her hips. The twins headed to the study, acting affronted. Ginny followed. "But you two were too busy with Order business to even look my way! Besides I wanted to catch up with Daddy."
"Catch up with dad-dy!" mimicked Fred, in a high-pitched voice. Much to Ginny's chagrin, it sounded a lot like Malfoy's impersonation of her.
"I do not sound like that," she cried, stomping one foot.
"Malfoy, here are the things you asked for," said George, handing him a wooden crate, tied up in twine. And Fred rummaged in his pocket a moment, before withdrawing a small paper-wrapped packet.
"And this is from Longbottom," he said, handing it to Draco.
"You run into any trouble?" Draco asked, looking at the twins meaningfully.
"Well," George started, with a sideways glance at Ginny, "The shop's being guarded by Aurors. Haven't had any disturbances, though we noticed a few shifty looking gents hovering about the storefront."
"You mean because of what happened with us in Knockturn Alley?" Ginny asked.
"Word is getting around that Draco Malfoy was seen today with two women, one of them a red-haired freckle-faced Weasley," Fred said. "Fortunately Tonks wasn't recognized, or she'd be locked up in here with you two." Ginny rolled her eyes.
"What's all the rest of this?" Draco indicated the boxes and shopping bags they were holding.
"Well, Tonks told us that ickle Ginnykins wanted to visit the shop," said George.
"So, as good brothers should, we packed up some of our finest products and decided to bring them around to cheer up our ickle baby sister!"
"Who said I need cheering up, then?" asked Ginny, laughing, as she peered into a box in George's arms.
"Mum did. And Tonks. And Dad. Well, you get the picture. We hear you've been knitting, for Merlin's sake!" said Fred, looking aghast.
"See! That's how bored I've been. Now please tell me you've brought me at least some candy that's edible," she rummaged in a small shopping bag that was dangling from Fred's pinky.
"Could we dump this junk in your room? It's just a tad heavy," groaned Fred.
"Just a smidgeon," murmured George, as he watched a small box fall from the top of the stack he held in his arms.
---
Fred and George were settled comfortably on her bed, while Ginny, sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes, bags, and packages, looked through the things they brought for her.
"A Daydream Charm?" She looked at the box, slightly apprehensively.
"It's our newest version. It's rather good," George said, waggling his eyebrows. Ginny laughed.
"Besides you can use it when you want to tune out Malfoy," Fred suggested. He leaned over and grabbed a large cloth sack. He handed it to her. "This was from Mum. Just some stuff she baked, and a few of your clothes, like you asked."
"You got some parcel by owl, Mum put it in there," added George, motioning to the bag.
"Oh, must be from Colin. He promised he'd send me some pictures from our times at Hogwarts," replied Ginny, finding the package and opening it. She was amazed to see that he had arranged the magical photos in an album. Fred snatched it from her hands and started flipping through it.
Ginny pouted and turned to the rest of the contents of the sack. George leaned back on an elbow and grinned at her, wickedly.
"You'll notice that we included some of our favorite pranks..."
Fred piped in, "You know, to use on Malfoy..."
"Because whether or not the git's on our side..."
"He'd deserve everything you throw at him."
Ginny looked up to see the matching devious smiles on the twins' faces.
"I'm not starting a stupid little prank war. Besides, he'd tell Mum on me!"
They looked mightily disappointed.
"And it'd be rather obvious who did it - I'm the only one in the house!"
"You can try out some of the subtler things - change his hair to Gryff colors and see how long it takes him to notice."
"Or slip a Babbling Potion in his drink and blackmail him with stuff he blurts out!" suggested Fred.
"Come on, Ginny, we thought you were one of ours! Besides if Mum ever finds out, we give you permission to blame it on us," continued George.
"Well, I guess if something strange were to find it's way into his morning tea...it wouldn't be so wrong..."
The twins grinned at her. George pretended to wipe away a tear, as Fred said, "That's our girl!"
Ginny picked out a large chocolate bar from the pile of candy. She inspected it closely, and looked at the twins. George merely shrugged, and Fred suggested they share it. She split that bar into three and offered her brothers each a piece. She watched them each take a bite, before doing so herself.
"So, what'd you bring for Draco?"
"He asked for some potions ingredients. Just a couple of rare things that you can't get on Diagon Alley," answered Fred, through a mouthful of chocolate.
"Things you can't get in Knockturn Alley either?"
The twins exchanged an uncomfortable look and remained silent.
"I see. I wonder if I should be telling Mum about this conversation."
"Please, Ginny - it's bad enough as it is!" muttered Fred.
"After our fiasco with the Instant Darkness Powder..." George started and Fred murmured "Damn that devious bastard Malfoy." George continued, "We're supposed to be more careful about selling our wares."
"Not to mention the fact that the Order has asked us to make each of our products with some sort of 'backdoor' in them."
"That way, if we find that our enemies -"
"Death-Eaters," said Fred, rolling his eyes and using his fingers to quote in midair.
"- are using our goods, the Order will have a way of deactiving them."
"Pretty clever, actually. It was Hermione's idea."
"And since only Order members get to know the backdoor spells, they can still use the products without worrying -"
"Wait - what about me?" cried Ginny, indignantly, cramming the rest of her chocolate in her mouth.
"Well, shouldn't be a problem for you, little sis," said Fred, grinning.
"As you aren't allowed -"
"- out of the house -"
"- ever again!"
"Problem solved!" The twins said this together, high-fiving each other, as if her house-arrest was their idea.
"I swear, everyone's out to baby me!"
"Well, you are the baby!"
"I'm 16, for Merlin's sake!"
"Be that as it may, Ginny-girl, you are too precious to be involved in all this war nonsense," said George, with a rare look of sincerity on his face.
"We know that you can defend yourself, hell, you've proven that dozens of times, but we love you too much -"
"- to simply let you run around during wartime."
"If anything were to happen to you - I don't think I could ever smile again!" Fred laid back in her bed, throwing his wrist to his brow, feinting a faint.
"Honestly!" Ginny chucked the Daydream Charm package at Fred and laughed when it hit his forehead. He sprang from the bed and soon both twins wrestled her to the ground and proceeded to tickle her.
"Oh, god - Help! Help me!" she shrieked, struggling to breath and laughing all at once.
Ginny was sure she was about to wet herself, when her bedroom door slammed open. The twins ceased their attack, and the three of them looked up from the floor. Draco was standing in the doorway, looking furious, with his wand drawn. He hesitated a moment and slowly lowered it, scowling.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, I thought you were in real trouble."
"I was!"
And with that, the twins continued their assault, causing Ginny to scream out. Fred was holding back her arms while George mercilessly wriggled his fingers on her stomach. She started kicking about, yelling for them to stop. Draco stood, fixated, watching with a look of disgust on his face.
"Please - help me!" Ginny cried when George's hands went to her armpits. Fred threw a bored look over to Draco.
"We'll be with you in a mo', Malfoy. Business to take care of, you see."
Ginny managed to wriggle away from Fred's grip while he was distracted. She crawled on the floor, near Draco's feet, gasping for breath. She used the door frame to help her stand.
"Oh sweet Circe," she sighed, slumping forward to catch her breath. She pulled the elastic from her hair, freeing the completely messy ponytail.
The twins stood up, dusted themselves off, and turned their attention to Draco, who was staring down at the girl beside him as though he'd never seen her before. His brow was furrowed and they could make out a small smile on his lips.
"Malfoy, if you're through staring at our baby sister -" Draco was startled by George's words and looked up at the twins, swallowing.
"- we'll bid you adieu!"
Draco watched as Fred ruffled Ginny's hair. She watched him disdainfully, as this was fairly normal procedure, a common way any Weasley boy might say goodbye to his little sister.
"We have to head back to the store now to close up. Poor Verity must be swamped. Now you behave yourself, Ginevra!" Fred said, attempting a frown worthy of McGonagall.
"Bye, Malfoy," George said, while wriggling his fingers through Ginny's hair, messing it up even further. "Send us a message, if you need anything, don't hesitate."
They both shuffled past Draco, who was leaning against the door frame, once again looking down at Ginny. She could hear the twins whispering to each other all the down the stairs, and finally the front door was opened and closed, leaving the house in an awkward silence.
Ginny reached up, and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to tame it down. She heard Draco snort under his breath.
"What?"
She walked over to the pile of things on the floor, dropped to her knees, and started to arrange them.
"Nothing," Draco whispered, turning away and heading back down the stairs.
---
Ginny knocked softly at the study door and pushed it open. She had a bar of chocolate in her pocket, her knitting in one hand and her new photo book in the other. She expected to see Draco by the desk, chopping this or grinding that. Instead, she found the deskchair empty and the room to be darkened, only a low red glow coming from the fireplace. She nearly turned back to venture to the kitchen, but she saw his outline sitting on the hearthrug.
She approached him, quietly, and joined him next to the dying embers in the fireplace. He was staring silently at his Dark Mark and hastily pulled down his sleeve while she set aside her knitting and her album and pulled out the candy.
"You want some?"
"Is it safe?"
"One way to find out," Ginny said, smiling and offering him half the bar. He eyed the chocolate carefully and waited until she swallowed her first bite before nibbling slowly.
"What are you doing in the dark?" she asked, pointedly. She heard him swallow and his eyes went to the small silk rug underneath them.
"Thinking."
"Well, good for you! Never too late to start," she grinned at him, shoving the rest of the chocolate into her mouth and pulling her knitting into her lap. She'd started working on a scarf for Bill - a red and black combination.
Draco continued sitting dejectedly beside her, the chocolate between his fingers forgotten.
"Ok, sorry," she shrugged, "I'm supposed to ask what you were thinking about. So what - "
"I don't want to talk about it right now."
Ginny stabbed herself with one of her needles and groaned. "Merlin, I can't even see what I'm doing..."
Draco stirred, and a sideways glance told Ginny that he was reaching for his wand. He waved it and the fire seemed to roar with life. The sudden heat made her wiggle a few inches back.
"That better?" he asked, still staring morosely at the rug.
"No," she set aside her knitting. "Tell me what's bothering you?" Ginny turned to face him, she leaned back and supported herself with one hand. And she waited, allowing him time to say whatever he wanted. A few minutes passed in silence, and just when her mind started to wander, he spoke.
"I was just thinking about how you act with your brothers."
"Oh?"
"And I was just wishing that I had a relationship like that with someone. Unconditional love and all that nonsense."
"You have your mum," she suggested, hopefully.
"Yes. In a way. But she'd never acts like that – I mean she loves me more than anything and she does everything to show it... but it's never as open as..."
"You have my mum," she added. "She's taken a quite a liking to you."
"And how do you figure that?" he asked, gracefully lying back on his elbows, his pale pointed face looking up at her lazily. Ginny couldn't help but admire the view.
"Well, the fact that she does your laundry. And that she always serves you first during meals - plus she makes sure you have seconds and thirds."
"That doesn't mean that she likes me - "
"It does. If she didn't like you - you'd be doing your own laundry. And she wouldn't be forcing me to cook your meals - she'd be making you fend for yourself. Besides, she really must like you if she'd want her only daughter to stay here with you."
Draco smiled as he considered that.
"I think you remind her of Harry, in a way."
Draco gaped at her a moment before sitting up straight. "What!"
"No, really! I think you seem like a lost little boy to her, at times."
"Well...obviously she...but..." he sputtered, his voice trailing off.
"Yeah, that," Ginny grinned, pointing at his face. He smirked at her. "That was it, right there. That look always gets right to the heart of my mum," Ginny sighed.
"I am not a lost little boy!" Draco seemed to find his voice, along with his indignation.
"You going to eat that or what?" Ginny looked down to see the chunk of chocolate was smushed between his index and thumb. He looked at it, wrinkling his nose.
Acting without a thought, Ginny grabbed his wrist and guided the candy to her mouth. She took a big bite and chewed. Draco was frozen with a look of shock and horror on his face.
"What?"
"You..."
"What? It's melting, you better finish it now. It's rather good."
Ginny's breath hitched in her throat when she saw the way he continued to eye the candy in hand. His eyes trailed up to her slender fingers around his wrist. Her hand looked so small compared to his. He blinked slowly and brought his eyes to her lips. She licked them self-consciously, and saw his gaze intensify.
Not quite knowing where the burst of courage came from, she lifted his wrist again, taking another bite, and then moved the chocolate to his lips. He popped the rest of the candy in his mouth.
"It is rather good," he murmured, hoarsely, licking his fingers, his cool gray eyes not leaving her face. Ginny felt her mouth go dry, her eyes glued to his lips and his tongue flicking across this thumb.
She gently pried her fingers from his wrist, and they suddenly felt rather cold without the contact.
Finally managing to avert her eyes, she looked down beside her at the album, and idly running her fingertips across it, as she slowed down her breathing.
"What's that?" His deep voice rumbled near her ear, nearly a whisper. He was pointing at the album, and with a swift motion of his fingers, he gestured for Ginny to hand it over. She didn't think to disobey him.
Draco heaved a soft sigh, and from her proximity, she could nearly taste the chocolate on his breath. She felt herself blushing against her will. Thankfully, he was rather distracted looking through the album.
He flipped several pages, looking bored. They were mostly pictures of her. Starting from second year, all the way through her fifth.
"Oho!" he said, pushing the book into her hands. "Who's this handsome devil?" Ginny tilted her head, leaning in to take a look.
It was a picture of the Gryffindor quidditch team after a game. They had their arms draped over each others' shoulders, Ginny was by far the smallest, standing beside Ron, who towered over her, his arm around her shoulders. She was grinning and waving - they'd won that game.
In the background, where Draco was pointing, was a familiar blond boy, dressed in green quidditch robes, who was making funny faces. Ginny looked up at the real Draco Malfoy to see him making similar faces. She laughed.
"I know that cad - would you like an introduction?"
"I'd like to meet this little blossoming flower here," he said.
She looked down to see his finger pointing at the image of herself. The Ginny in the photograph, in her dirty quidditch robes and clutching her ancient hand-me-down broom, brushed the hair back from her face and blushed.
"You're quite the charmer," she whispered, as he smirked and took the book back. He continued flipping through pages, pouring over each picture, seeming to take in every detail.
"What're your favorite colors, Draco? Besides green and silver. And not black," she said, picking up her knitting again.
"Why, you going to make me one of those scarves? Honestly, I'll likely never leave this house again, so bloody good it'll do me," he said, slamming the album shut and stretching to put it on the table behind him.
"I could make you some socks," she suggested - "Or maybe I could figure out how to make a jumper..."
"No, thank you. I'll pass on the scratchy wool."
"Well, I have no idea what to give you for Christmas," she sighed, tugging at the tangled red yarn.
"That's not for ages. And you don't have to get me anything."
"Hmm, we'll see, I guess."
"And certainly don't expect much from me. With my new budget and inability to go out shopping..." his voice trailed off and he silently stared into the flames.
After a few moments of silence, Draco yawned widely. He stood and stretched, drawing Ginny's eyes from her knitting. A flash of pale skin was exposed when his shirt rode up his stomach. He rolled his shoulders and straightened up, turning his cool, gray eyes to her.
"I'm going to bed. We'll start working on preparing the ingredients tomorrow. And don't touch anything in the ice box. I've put a few things in there to chill."
"Alright. I guess I'd better go to bed, too," Ginny tossed her knitting on a table and reached for the album. "Would you mind putting out the fire?"
And with a spell, the room was completely dark. Instinctively, Ginny reached out, blindly, and her fingers brushed across Draco's arm. She grabbed it tightly and let him guide her from the room.
"I meant on our way out, you prat," she muttered. She heard his soft laugh just as the passed through to the foyer. A dim bluish light shone in from the window and as Ginny's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to make out his tall profile.
He cast Lumos and they started up the stairs together.
"Good night," Ginny called, watching Draco enter his room from her doorway.
"'Night," he answered, closing his door softly.
---
After brushing her teeth, washing her face, changing into her white nightdress, and brushing her long hair for about fifteen minutes in front of a mirror, Ginny still couldn't get the flash of Draco's stomach, the feel of his biceps, or his husky voice out of her head. She decided that she should try to get some sleep.
She padded to her bed, and pulled back the covers. She gasped.
On her crisp faded pink sheets, lay a small colorful box. A Daydream Charm, specialty item from Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Ginny groaned, picking it up, remembering throwing it at Fred. She crawled into bed, and pulled the covers up to her waist. She spun the box idly, in her hands.
"Oh, why not," she whispered, opening it quickly.
---
Oh. George was right. This is quite nice.
Ginny was flying on a broom, her hair streaming behind her, over a field of purple and orange wildflowers, the afternoon sun warming her skin. She sped up, did some turns and loops, relishing in the realistic feeling.
She spotted something golden gleaming in the light, in front of her. A snitch! As Ginny reached forward to grab it, something zoomed by - a blur of green - and the snitch was gone. Disappointed, and curious, Ginny searched for the green blur.
It was off to her left, moving fast, towards the ground. She followed.
Her bare feet touched the ground, and she was buried to her knees in flowers. Ginny looked down to find herself clad in a light sundress. She dropped her broom.
A few feet away was a man, his back turned to her. She reached forward and grabbed his green cloak. He spun around, the cloak falling from his shoulders.
His white-blond hair shone brightly in the warm sunlight, a golden halo around his face. He was smiling, his lips spread wide, his striking gray eyes crinkling. He was relaxed and happy and glowing. He looked extraordinarily handsome, dressed in a simple white oxford shirt and jeans.
"Draco?"
He grinned wider, and he held up the snitch between his fingers.
"Looking for this?" he laughed.
She smiled and reached for it, and he held it just out of reach. It felt oddly familiar to her. Laughing, she reached out again, and he held the snitch high above his head. Her hands trailed up his chest and up his arm, as far as she could reach on tiptoe.
He turned, pulling her closer to him. She gave a small jump, brushing against his body, making another attempt for the snitch. Another small jump sent them tumbling to the ground, both of them laughing, surrounded by walls of wildflowers and grass.
Ginny landed, straddling him, her long hair covering his face. She brushed back the strands to find him looking up at her.
Slowly, the smile dropped from his face, and he stared at her a moment, before wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him.
Dropping all pretenses, snitch completely forgotten, Ginny reached to the nape of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Their lips meet briefly; both of them, shocked by the contact, pulled away. Draco buried his hand in her hair and raised his lips to hers, firmly and possessively, and he growled into her mouth...
---
It was about twenty minutes later when Ginny's eyes refocused. She was panting and blinking rapidly. She brushed back the hair from her face, and looked down at the torn package in her hand with wide eyes, her mind racing with images from the daydream.
When her breathing was finally even, and sleep about to take her, she wondered if there were any more Daydream Charms in the piles of products on her desk.
Her eyes closed and her last thoughts were of purple wildflowers and snitches.
Author notes: Thanks for the all the supportive reviews!
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