Ginny stared at the paper one more time, wondering whether it was a good idea to send it to him or if she should just stay as far away from him as possible. She pondered whether her comments were innocent enough to sound friendly, or would they make her sound more like an admirer? Her neat handwriting had made her comments understandable, at least.
Impressive match
Congratulations on winning it
“Maybe I shouldn’t,” she thought again. “He’ll probably think it’s from a secret admirer. God knows what he’d do if he found out, but then again he’ll already know it’s from me because of the last note.” She thought it didn’t matter, because in the end he’d probably laugh out loud and share it with his friends.
She walked to the Owlery, where most owls were kept when they weren’t with their owners. She’d found his owl a long time ago, but decided to take advantage of it just this year. The first note she gave him was terrible, in fact she despised it. She was a young teenage girl who could never have handled a boyfriend at that time. All it said was, “Can we talk? 4 pm at the Quidditch pitch.” As the time approached, not only had she got a bad headache, but she’d had to cancel her plans. She felt horrible about it, but she’d been pretty sure that he wouldn’t care. Oh, how wrong she’d been. She had found him questioning every one of his friends, asking if he or she had sent him a note. Then the next day, he’d found out. His friends, who somehow knew it had been from her, purposely made sure she was sitting next to him during the school Christmas photo. She’d been so embarrassed that she’d tried to edge away from her seat. It had been an embarrassing day for her, but she’d managed to ignore him.
Now here she was, standing in front of his owl. The bird looked speculative as he hoot at her and ate another owl treat from her hand. She carefully tied the note to his leg and told him to give it to his owner. She left quickly, before the owner of the footsteps she could hear approaching could find her.
During her Advanced Potions class she saw him sitting alone, but surrounded by his friends. She sat down next to her friend, Colin Campbell, and then heard the teacher announce that he would be changing the seating plan. She gathered up her stuff as she and her friend were moved across the room, but during the whole process she could feel his eyes trained on her. Every time she looked at him, he was looking back at her with piercing eyes. She blushed every time she looked at him, but she managed to spend the rest of the day doing her work as normal. She tried to restrain herself, but she couldn’t stop glancing at him once or twice during her professor’s speech. She knew now that she had it bad.
After a couple of months
Draco Malfoy was a wealthy man who had more than one girl hanging on his every word, but he also had friends that he could trust. He was popular with the ladies, but he never showed a hint of egoism. He never abused it to his advantage, but merely accepted it. Even if he was with a girlfriend or with friends, he acknowledged others with a nod or a wave. That was what Ginny loved and hated about Draco Malfoy. She wanted to hate the fact that he was not a jerk as she had previously thought, but she couldn’t. Every day she wondered if she could be his centre of attention, maybe for just a day or two; but then she would wonder, what was she thinking? What were the chances that he would give up his “model” girlfriend for her? They were the opposites of each other, and opposites were just not meant to be together.
She sometimes wondered if plain girls ever got the hot guys, for once in their lives. She wondered if it was even possible. She had never seen where a hot guy really liked a “normal” girl. She hated the fact that she longed for a fairy-tale romance—a fairy tale where he would see more than just her looks.
“Gin, what are you doing here by yourself?”
“Luna! You scared me,” she said, jumping at Luna’s voice. Her thoughts had taken her away from reality. She finally realised that she was sitting in the common room with a book open near her.
“Sorry, but this daydreaming thing has to stop. It’s not healthy.”
Ginny rolled her eyes at her friend’s comment. “I’m fine. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I’m doing some homework. Oh, and did I tell you what happened yesterday?”
“No, what?” Ginny asked, leaning closer to her.
“Well, Professor Snape made Draco, Pansy, and I be in the same group for that potions project, and we were talking about the ingredients. Draco was trying to explain to Pansy what frog’s eyes do for the potion. So he transfigured a quill into frog’s eyes and then he showed a brilliant illustration of what could happen if you put too much into a potion. He was so dreamy,” Luna sighed dreamily.
Ginny stared at her with envy, but knew there was no point being envious. She saw Draco out of the corner of her eye as he went to sit down at the Slytherin table with his friends. She could hear their laughter from her place at the Gryffindor table.
She remembered the first time he’d helped her. She was going to the library with a heavy load in her arms. She was walking toward the door when she dropped a paper. Just as she was about to reach down to get it, someone else was there, bending down and picking up her paper. She blushed as Draco took the paper in his hand and skimmed through it for a couple of seconds before handing it to her. She muttered a thank-you before running inside, her face burning. She kept thinking how he could have read her birthdate or some other private information, as the paper was an application to the Wizarding College. Then, when she had finished her homework, she was leaving the library at the same time that he was approaching down the corridor. He was right behind her when she came out, and she almost stumbled into him but somehow maintained her balance.
She knew that he was not perfect, that he could be just as bad as Ron was when he stole Santa’s cookies. Draco occasionally skipped classes when it was near a holiday or when it was simply boring, but she never knew how smart he was. She was impressed with his knowledge of potions and how he beat her on every test. She admired him for helping others in need, even though it was an excuse for cutting class.
As her birthday approached, she was excited about what her brothers and her parents might have got her. She appreciated her gifts no matter what. But this special gift seemed so much rarer than others.
“Did you hear?” said Luna to her at Charms class two days before Ginny’s birthday.
“What?”
“He broke up with his girlfriend,” Luna said in a giddy state.
“When?” Ginny was shocked, but happy nonetheless.
“During Potions class. He told his friends that he broke up with her.”
“Are you sure?”
“Parvati was sitting behind his seat when he told his friends. Can you believe that he’s a bachelor now?” Luna said dreamily.
“You must be so happy,” Ginny said. She shook Luna’s arm to bring her back to reality.
Ginny was happy at the thought of Draco being single. But then she thought of her birthday and how close it was to when he’d broken up with his girlfriend. She began to wonder whether there was any significance to the timing of the two things. She wanted to believe that he’d broken up with his girlfriend because of her. But, really—what was she thinking?
I’m sorry about what happened
Ginny thought she must be on drugs when she sent this note to him a week after his break-up. She was thinking how this could all be only a rumour and how Luna could have lied to her. But she knew Luna pretty well, and she was sure Luna wouldn’t do that to her. Or would she? Ginny thought about his reaction on the note. She had been getting some paper from the teacher’s desk when Draco looked at her as if he wanted to talk to her but didn’t know how to start. She’d been disappointed when he walked away, but nonetheless she continued with her work.
Ginny decided to give up on him when she saw her, Draco’s girlfriend. Cindy, that was her, was beside him when Ginny was picking up her books from her desk. Cindy was talking to Pansy as if Pansy hardly ever saw her. Well, it was actually true, considering Cindy had graduated the previous year. Draco was beside her like a good boyfriend should be. Ginny was filled with envy, and the thought of them together made her feel sick to the stomach. She left quickly, without a second glance.
She vowed to forget him and learned quickly as she ignored him at every class where she saw him. Of course, ignoring just meant she wouldn’t look at him, but then again, it was hard to not look at him. He was a Greek God. She especially was having a hard time ignoring him when he played Quidditch. He had all the right muscles everywhere and the thought of it made her knees weak. Why couldn’t he be skinny when she wanted to forget about him?
She soon found that the friendship of Colin and Neville had helped her through this whole situation. Even though they chatted like friends, people always assumed they must be dating. Colin was a super-nice guy. He was there every day to tease or encourage her. Meanwhile, Neville was a bit rough round the edges. He liked to annoy her every once in a while and sometimes upset her; but then again, without him Potions class would be so boring. They were both great guys, but somehow she never thought of them as more than friends.
And then there was Seamus. He was the good-humoured guy who made class funny and worthwhile. She loved his sense of humour. She knew he had a crush on her, but somehow she just didn’t know if she liked him back. But soon, she knew she found him more of a great friend. He was so sweet when his friends pulled a prank on her, and he even made sure she was okay with it. She sometimes regretted that she couldn’t take him up on his offer, but it felt better when he was getting along with a lot of girls rather than being focused just on her. She sometimes told him she wished him good luck with them, hoping he wouldn’t hold a grudge against her.
Also, there were Michael and Dean. Michael was the first guy to have a crush on her during her school years. He was confident as he tried his pick-up lines with her, and he tried to sway her with his charms. Even though she did like him during her fourth year, she knew he deserved someone better. Plus she didn’t want a real boyfriend yet. Soon he found a girl named Michelle, a girl who seemed better suited to him than Ginny was. Sometimes Michael would get in trouble with Michelle for talking to her, but Ginny didn’t want to mess up his relationship. She felt bad and tried to stay clear of him for now. He and Michelle were one of the cute couples of Hogwarts, and they looked like they would last for a long time. And they did, for almost two years.
Dean had had a crush on Ginny even before coming to Hogwarts. She knew how sweet and gentle he was, but she never did like him back the way he wanted her to. Even though she broke his heart by telling him to “bug off”, she really felt bad and wanted to apologise. Now he sometimes ignored her during class or in the hallways, and she hoped he would forgive her one day.
Even though those five boys were only the beginning, she didn’t want to cause more troubles. Then she realised that she already made enough trouble with Draco. She didn’t want to admit this, but it was really hard to forget Draco. He was probably her first love, or maybe just her first big crush.
However, she eventually found a bloke who was almost as cute as Draco. Terry Boot, a friend of Michael’s, was one of the smartest students she had known. He was also a fairly great swimmer and loved to compete with his friends. Although a lot of people thought he had a crush on Lavender because he always talked to her in the classes they had together, they never held hands in public or showed any other sign that they were a couple. Ginny was reluctant to show her feelings, fearing she’d probably end up being rejected.
She kind of wished Draco would stop acknowledging her with his stares and glares. She knew he had found out who had been giving him secret notes, and she wished that he would at least acknowledge that he knew. She didn’t know whether it was because of the attention he got from the notes or the fact that he wanted to have more ego, but she hated this game. The game of “Let the Girl Make the Moves” was getting boring and tiresome. She needed to know whether he was interested or just didn’t care. So far his signs were as mysterious as the Giant Squid.
Now, at the graduation ceremony, she could see him sitting next to his friends laughing at whatever they said. Even though she longed for his attention, she was probably just another girl, a notch in his belt. She wanted a last chance, so she gave him her last letter. Whether he came or not, she would finally have her answer.
4 pm Quidditch pitch
Come if you really care
Congratulations on winning it
“Maybe I shouldn’t,” she thought again. “He’ll probably think it’s from a secret admirer. God knows what he’d do if he found out, but then again he’ll already know it’s from me because of the last note.” She thought it didn’t matter, because in the end he’d probably laugh out loud and share it with his friends.
She walked to the Owlery, where most owls were kept when they weren’t with their owners. She’d found his owl a long time ago, but decided to take advantage of it just this year. The first note she gave him was terrible, in fact she despised it. She was a young teenage girl who could never have handled a boyfriend at that time. All it said was, “Can we talk? 4 pm at the Quidditch pitch.” As the time approached, not only had she got a bad headache, but she’d had to cancel her plans. She felt horrible about it, but she’d been pretty sure that he wouldn’t care. Oh, how wrong she’d been. She had found him questioning every one of his friends, asking if he or she had sent him a note. Then the next day, he’d found out. His friends, who somehow knew it had been from her, purposely made sure she was sitting next to him during the school Christmas photo. She’d been so embarrassed that she’d tried to edge away from her seat. It had been an embarrassing day for her, but she’d managed to ignore him.
Now here she was, standing in front of his owl. The bird looked speculative as he hoot at her and ate another owl treat from her hand. She carefully tied the note to his leg and told him to give it to his owner. She left quickly, before the owner of the footsteps she could hear approaching could find her.
During her Advanced Potions class she saw him sitting alone, but surrounded by his friends. She sat down next to her friend, Colin Campbell, and then heard the teacher announce that he would be changing the seating plan. She gathered up her stuff as she and her friend were moved across the room, but during the whole process she could feel his eyes trained on her. Every time she looked at him, he was looking back at her with piercing eyes. She blushed every time she looked at him, but she managed to spend the rest of the day doing her work as normal. She tried to restrain herself, but she couldn’t stop glancing at him once or twice during her professor’s speech. She knew now that she had it bad.
After a couple of months
Draco Malfoy was a wealthy man who had more than one girl hanging on his every word, but he also had friends that he could trust. He was popular with the ladies, but he never showed a hint of egoism. He never abused it to his advantage, but merely accepted it. Even if he was with a girlfriend or with friends, he acknowledged others with a nod or a wave. That was what Ginny loved and hated about Draco Malfoy. She wanted to hate the fact that he was not a jerk as she had previously thought, but she couldn’t. Every day she wondered if she could be his centre of attention, maybe for just a day or two; but then she would wonder, what was she thinking? What were the chances that he would give up his “model” girlfriend for her? They were the opposites of each other, and opposites were just not meant to be together.
She sometimes wondered if plain girls ever got the hot guys, for once in their lives. She wondered if it was even possible. She had never seen where a hot guy really liked a “normal” girl. She hated the fact that she longed for a fairy-tale romance—a fairy tale where he would see more than just her looks.
“Gin, what are you doing here by yourself?”
“Luna! You scared me,” she said, jumping at Luna’s voice. Her thoughts had taken her away from reality. She finally realised that she was sitting in the common room with a book open near her.
“Sorry, but this daydreaming thing has to stop. It’s not healthy.”
Ginny rolled her eyes at her friend’s comment. “I’m fine. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I’m doing some homework. Oh, and did I tell you what happened yesterday?”
“No, what?” Ginny asked, leaning closer to her.
“Well, Professor Snape made Draco, Pansy, and I be in the same group for that potions project, and we were talking about the ingredients. Draco was trying to explain to Pansy what frog’s eyes do for the potion. So he transfigured a quill into frog’s eyes and then he showed a brilliant illustration of what could happen if you put too much into a potion. He was so dreamy,” Luna sighed dreamily.
Ginny stared at her with envy, but knew there was no point being envious. She saw Draco out of the corner of her eye as he went to sit down at the Slytherin table with his friends. She could hear their laughter from her place at the Gryffindor table.
She remembered the first time he’d helped her. She was going to the library with a heavy load in her arms. She was walking toward the door when she dropped a paper. Just as she was about to reach down to get it, someone else was there, bending down and picking up her paper. She blushed as Draco took the paper in his hand and skimmed through it for a couple of seconds before handing it to her. She muttered a thank-you before running inside, her face burning. She kept thinking how he could have read her birthdate or some other private information, as the paper was an application to the Wizarding College. Then, when she had finished her homework, she was leaving the library at the same time that he was approaching down the corridor. He was right behind her when she came out, and she almost stumbled into him but somehow maintained her balance.
She knew that he was not perfect, that he could be just as bad as Ron was when he stole Santa’s cookies. Draco occasionally skipped classes when it was near a holiday or when it was simply boring, but she never knew how smart he was. She was impressed with his knowledge of potions and how he beat her on every test. She admired him for helping others in need, even though it was an excuse for cutting class.
As her birthday approached, she was excited about what her brothers and her parents might have got her. She appreciated her gifts no matter what. But this special gift seemed so much rarer than others.
“Did you hear?” said Luna to her at Charms class two days before Ginny’s birthday.
“What?”
“He broke up with his girlfriend,” Luna said in a giddy state.
“When?” Ginny was shocked, but happy nonetheless.
“During Potions class. He told his friends that he broke up with her.”
“Are you sure?”
“Parvati was sitting behind his seat when he told his friends. Can you believe that he’s a bachelor now?” Luna said dreamily.
“You must be so happy,” Ginny said. She shook Luna’s arm to bring her back to reality.
Ginny was happy at the thought of Draco being single. But then she thought of her birthday and how close it was to when he’d broken up with his girlfriend. She began to wonder whether there was any significance to the timing of the two things. She wanted to believe that he’d broken up with his girlfriend because of her. But, really—what was she thinking?
Ginny thought she must be on drugs when she sent this note to him a week after his break-up. She was thinking how this could all be only a rumour and how Luna could have lied to her. But she knew Luna pretty well, and she was sure Luna wouldn’t do that to her. Or would she? Ginny thought about his reaction on the note. She had been getting some paper from the teacher’s desk when Draco looked at her as if he wanted to talk to her but didn’t know how to start. She’d been disappointed when he walked away, but nonetheless she continued with her work.
Ginny decided to give up on him when she saw her, Draco’s girlfriend. Cindy, that was her, was beside him when Ginny was picking up her books from her desk. Cindy was talking to Pansy as if Pansy hardly ever saw her. Well, it was actually true, considering Cindy had graduated the previous year. Draco was beside her like a good boyfriend should be. Ginny was filled with envy, and the thought of them together made her feel sick to the stomach. She left quickly, without a second glance.
She vowed to forget him and learned quickly as she ignored him at every class where she saw him. Of course, ignoring just meant she wouldn’t look at him, but then again, it was hard to not look at him. He was a Greek God. She especially was having a hard time ignoring him when he played Quidditch. He had all the right muscles everywhere and the thought of it made her knees weak. Why couldn’t he be skinny when she wanted to forget about him?
She soon found that the friendship of Colin and Neville had helped her through this whole situation. Even though they chatted like friends, people always assumed they must be dating. Colin was a super-nice guy. He was there every day to tease or encourage her. Meanwhile, Neville was a bit rough round the edges. He liked to annoy her every once in a while and sometimes upset her; but then again, without him Potions class would be so boring. They were both great guys, but somehow she never thought of them as more than friends.
And then there was Seamus. He was the good-humoured guy who made class funny and worthwhile. She loved his sense of humour. She knew he had a crush on her, but somehow she just didn’t know if she liked him back. But soon, she knew she found him more of a great friend. He was so sweet when his friends pulled a prank on her, and he even made sure she was okay with it. She sometimes regretted that she couldn’t take him up on his offer, but it felt better when he was getting along with a lot of girls rather than being focused just on her. She sometimes told him she wished him good luck with them, hoping he wouldn’t hold a grudge against her.
Also, there were Michael and Dean. Michael was the first guy to have a crush on her during her school years. He was confident as he tried his pick-up lines with her, and he tried to sway her with his charms. Even though she did like him during her fourth year, she knew he deserved someone better. Plus she didn’t want a real boyfriend yet. Soon he found a girl named Michelle, a girl who seemed better suited to him than Ginny was. Sometimes Michael would get in trouble with Michelle for talking to her, but Ginny didn’t want to mess up his relationship. She felt bad and tried to stay clear of him for now. He and Michelle were one of the cute couples of Hogwarts, and they looked like they would last for a long time. And they did, for almost two years.
Dean had had a crush on Ginny even before coming to Hogwarts. She knew how sweet and gentle he was, but she never did like him back the way he wanted her to. Even though she broke his heart by telling him to “bug off”, she really felt bad and wanted to apologise. Now he sometimes ignored her during class or in the hallways, and she hoped he would forgive her one day.
Even though those five boys were only the beginning, she didn’t want to cause more troubles. Then she realised that she already made enough trouble with Draco. She didn’t want to admit this, but it was really hard to forget Draco. He was probably her first love, or maybe just her first big crush.
However, she eventually found a bloke who was almost as cute as Draco. Terry Boot, a friend of Michael’s, was one of the smartest students she had known. He was also a fairly great swimmer and loved to compete with his friends. Although a lot of people thought he had a crush on Lavender because he always talked to her in the classes they had together, they never held hands in public or showed any other sign that they were a couple. Ginny was reluctant to show her feelings, fearing she’d probably end up being rejected.
She kind of wished Draco would stop acknowledging her with his stares and glares. She knew he had found out who had been giving him secret notes, and she wished that he would at least acknowledge that he knew. She didn’t know whether it was because of the attention he got from the notes or the fact that he wanted to have more ego, but she hated this game. The game of “Let the Girl Make the Moves” was getting boring and tiresome. She needed to know whether he was interested or just didn’t care. So far his signs were as mysterious as the Giant Squid.
Now, at the graduation ceremony, she could see him sitting next to his friends laughing at whatever they said. Even though she longed for his attention, she was probably just another girl, a notch in his belt. She wanted a last chance, so she gave him her last letter. Whether he came or not, she would finally have her answer.
Come if you really care
Leave a Review