Ginny didn’t know how she’d stumbled back towards the Gryffindor tower. She wasn’t sure how she remembered the password as she awoke the Fat Lady for entry. She wasn’t sure how she’d managed to climb the stairs up towards her dormitory. And she wasn’t sure how she’d gotten to where she was now – sitting up in bed, fingers pressed to her lips, recalling what had just occurred.
It had all gone by in such a blur. One moment she was studying for a Transfiguration exam, and the next, she was out in the hallways looking for Malfoy. She didn’t know what she was expecting to happen when she did find him.
Ginny turned multiple shades of red as she kept thinking about how Malfoy had kissed her. And that she’d actually liked it. Even worse still, she was afraid she’d been all too vocal about liking it. Neither Michael nor Dean had kissed her like that.
And the touch of his hands on my body… Ginny shivered at the thought. And then he’d pulled away when she’d been wanting more. It confused her. Was she not up to his standards?
What does it matter?! Oh my Lord, Malfoy kissed you! You should be taking every single cleansing potion possible to rid yourself of the foul taste!
But it really wasn’t bad…it was quite nice…
Perhaps she was just a spur of the moment snog. He was bored, she was there…
He’s probably with another girl right at this moment, that Astoria Greengrass for sure!
Ginny remembered the way his lips slid down her throat, the way he held her up when she thought her knees would cave in. She remembered the way his hand roamed down her back, and the way her body reacted accordingly.
Ginny groaned and threw a pillow over her face.
The next morning Ginny decided to put the incident behind her. It was an accident. A delicious accident, but an accident nonetheless.
She gave herself a light slap across the face. You need to forget about this. As she hurriedly twisted her hair into two sloppy braids, Ginny’s eyes widened. I smell like Draco Malfoy. She yanked at her two plaits and drew them across her freckled nose. Oh Merlin, he’s everywhere!
In a state of panic, she grabbed her bottle of Niveus Pluvia and sprayed it over herself generously. Ginny had been wearing the scent for years. It smelled of lilies. And this moment called for her to smell more like Ginny than ever before.
After she got dressed she headed towards the Common Room. She found a group of Gryffindor girls huddled into a mass with squeals of giggling emanating from them. There wasn’t a boy in sight. The whole lot of them had probably scared them all away.
“What’s going on?” Ginny asked, making her way towards the center. She found Lavender Brown holding a gorgeous set of magenta robes against her form. The girl was twirling around for the others to see.
“Oh, Ginny!” Lavender gushed, as though receiving a friend. “Come see my new dress robes for the ball next weekend!”
Ginny was about to raise an eyebrow in confusion when Parvati spoke up. “Ron will love them.”
The girls burst into a fit of giggles and Ginny wanted to laugh for an entirely different reason. “You’re going to the ball with my brother?”
“Yes.” Lavender beamed at her. “Isn’t it exciting?”
Ginny opened her mouth for a snide retort, but thought better of it. “Sure.”
She managed to back out of the crowd unnoticed and was shaking her head in disbelief when she spotted a bushy haired figure dart out of the portrait hole discreetly.
Ginny followed after Hermione. “Hermione,” she called out, attempting to catch up with her friend.
Hermione whirled around. Her expression was sullen, but the girl managed to flash Ginny and overtly forced smile.
“Hello, Ginny,” she said, clutching a stack of books to her chest.
“You all right?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
“Oh, yes,” Hermione nodded her head vigorously. “I just wanted to get a bit of reading in before breakfast and I couldn’t concentrate in the Common Room.”
She turned to walk away, but Ginny quickly added, “He’s a big git.”
Hermione stiffened, but didn’t look back at Ginny as she hurried down the hallway.
Ginny sighed. Ron really deserved a smack upside the head sometimes. In a way she was relieved that Ron was taking an active role with girls, despite his questionable interest. It allowed her to kiss a boy without Ron jumping down her throat.
Although he may still do that if he knew who Ginny had kissed recently. She shook away the thought. You said you’d forget about it!
Ginny didn’t realize the ball was just around the corner. She was looking forward to it, seeing as how the whole school was going to be there and she’d heard that the new Wizarding band, Apollo’s Dream would be performing.
Since she’d broken up with Dean three boys had asked her to the dance, but she had declined all of them. She thought about going with Neville, since he’d taken her to the Yule Ball, but he was going with a girl from Hufflepuff, Megan Jones. Colin would’ve been her next choice, but he’d already asked Luna.
Ginny’s mind rattled off various names, trying to figure out who would be the most bearable to attend the ball with. She headed towards the Great Hall and found where all the Gryffindor boys had stowed away to.
She found a seat across from Harry and Ron.
“So, Ron,” Ginny said, grinning. She just had to tease him about this.
Ron quirked an eyebrow up at her as he shoveled a forkful of blueberry waffles into his mouth.
“Lavender is just so thrilled to be attending the ball with you,” she said, her grin still in place.
Ron stopped chewing for a moment for his cheeks to tinge pink. Harry’s lips quivered slightly.
“Buwwar ooff, Inny.” He scowled through his stuffed mouth.
Harry tried to conceal a laugh as a cough. “Who’s taking you, Gin?” he asked her.
Ginny’s face suddenly grew hot. “Er…nobody yet.”
“As it should be,” Ron said, normal speech having returned to him. He was about to continue eating when a look of realization suddenly framed his freckled face. “Hey, Harry! Why don’t you-”
Ron wasn’t able to finish his thought because the table suddenly clattered loudly, followed by a very ungracious “oof!” escaping his mouth.
Harry was staring at the table in front of him, his face expressionless, but his ears bright red. The two of them were oddly quiet.
“Er, there’s Lavender,” Ron said, rising to his feet. “I should…go…see…” he broke off into a run towards a direction where nobody the likes of Lavender stood.
Ginny fidgeted in her seat, avoiding Harry’s presence. If only she had “a Lavender” to run off to.
“Um, that wasn’t the least bit embarrassing,” Harry chuckled, ruffling his hair with a hand.
Ginny looked up to meet his gaze and smiled. “Ron isn’t the most sententious of people.”
“Hardly,” Harry said.
There was another awkward moment of silence.
“Er, Ginny?” Harry asked.
“Yes, Harry?”
“If you don’t have anyone to go to the ball with, and well, you’d like to go with someone, you know, as…a friend and all, then you’d be honored,” he blushed at his mistake. “…I mean I’d be honored if I could escort you?”
He looked at her hopefully, his green eyes gleaming in anticipation.
“Sure, Harry.” Ginny smiled. “I’d be honored.”
Ginny had waited for years for Harry Potter to be at a loss for words around her, and now that the moment had arrived, she felt compassion for the young man that had grown to become like the seventh brother she’d never had.
She wasn’t ignorant of his behavior recently. He’d become more reserved and formal around her, treating her like a woman instead of his kid sister. How things have changed, Ginny thought sadly.
His handsome face lit up. “Great!” And then he quickly sobered his expression in embarrassment. “I mean…well…it should be fun.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what I’m going to wear,” Ginny said, more to herself. She watched Harry fumble for an appropriate response, but as if on cue, a brown spotted owl holding a package flew into the Hall and landed in front of Ginny.
She opened it hastily. The girls, who had all decided to take a break from their giggling, had finally decided to sit down to breakfast and were anxiously watching Ginny open her package.
She first found a letter in her mother’s handwriting.
Ginny,
I decided to send you something new. Hope you enjoy your time at the ball. Give our regards to Ron, Harry, and Hermione.
Lots of love,
Mum
Ginny tossed the letter aside to find what her mother had been talking about. She gasped as she held up a beautiful white and gold set of robes. It took quite a bit to take her breath away, but the new robes certainly did it for her.
“Oh, Ginny!” Parvati breathed dreamily. “They’re beautiful!”
Ginny was suddenly aware that the greater portion of the Hall had become quiet and was gaping at her and her new robes. She blushed and quickly stuffed the robes back into its packaging.
“Well, that definitely takes care of your problem, yeah?” Harry said.
“Yeah.” Ginny laughed in bewilderment. “It definitely does.”
Ginny spent the greater portion of her Saturday afternoon sitting with Colin and Luna in the library. It was much too cold to go outside.
“So Harry and you, huh?” Colin attempted to feign innocence, but his eyes gleamed mischievously.
“Yes, me and Harry,” she said, pulling at the loose strands of hair that had fallen out of her braids.
Luna was hunched over a pile of books. She looked up from her reading for a moment to stare at Ginny thoughtfully.
“You don’t sound thrilled.”
Ginny swallowed hard. “I’m happy. I’m going with a good friend of mine.”
Colin snorted. “A good friend, eh? I suppose we’ve come a long way since singing Valentines and hours of writing in a dia-”
Ginny’s face blanched. Oh, why had he brought that up?
Colin looked at her peculiarly. “You all right, Ginny? I was only teasing. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
Ginny balled her fists under the table they were sitting at. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about what had happened to her during her first year. She couldn’t blame Colin for what he’d said; he hadn’t known.
“I’m fine,” she said quietly, gritting her teeth to get the words out calmly.
There was a silence among them, filled only with the sound of turning pages as Luna thumbed through a book.
“Are we almost done with the Muggle Studies project?” Luna asked, keeping her eyes on her reading.
“Yes, I believe so. We haven’t decided who the spokesperson will be, though,” Ginny said, grateful for the change in subject.
“I think you should do it, Ginny,” Colin said, eyeing her nervously. “I think you really know this stuff.”
“Oh, well, I’m not really comfortable with public speaking,” she lied. She really did not want to stand in front of a group of students and talk about the development and use of Muggle bombs during the Second Great Muggle War.
“Rubbish, you’re very eloquent,” Colin said, folding his arms across his chest.
“We should make Malfoy do it, after all, it was his idea and he’s quite loquacious when the occasion calls for it,” Luna said.
Ginny’s skin prickled at the mention of his name. “Yes, he should do it.”
They were to give their presentation on Wednesday and everything seemed to be ready to go. Ginny had been anxious to see Malfoy before then just so see how he’d react to her.
She hadn’t seen him during meals, nor had he been present whenever she’d seen his cronies lurking in the hallways. It seemed odd, and she felt a tiny sense of concern over his absence.
Stop it; it’s good you can’t find him. Maybe then you can stop obsessing over him.
I’m not obsessing!
On Wednesday morning Ginny stared into her oatmeal during breakfast. Their presentation was coming up.
As other students began to trickle into the Great Hall Ginny finally spotted the shock of platinum blond hair she’d been searching for. Draco Malfoy took a seat in-between Crabbe and Zabini. He looked a bit peaky, but as always, he was a vision of perfection with his freshly pressed robes and his hair combed back.
Ginny couldn’t help staring at him, wondering if he’d look up and see her. She drummed her fingers against the tabletop impatiently.
“Nervous about your presentation?” Harry’s voice broke into her anticipation as he took a seat next to her.
“Er, yeah,” she said absently, turning to give him a polite smile.
“I’m sure things will go fine,” he said reassuringly.
“Thanks, Harry,” Ginny said. Her eyes went back to the Slytherin table. Malfoy was leaning towards Zabini in conversation. Astoria Greengrass sat a few feet away with her gaggle of fourth year girls.
Look up, look up!
Her thoughts were once again interrupted by the sound of school books slamming against the table. She jumped slightly, looking for the source of the commotion.
Ron took a seat across from Harry, his fists clenched at his sides.
“Something the matter, Ron?” Harry asked with an amused expression on his face.
“Lavender is what’s the matter.” He exhaled loudly. “She asked me to spend the Christmas holiday with her family. Her family, Harry! She’s bloody mad, I tell you! I ask the girl to a school dance and this is what I get?”
“What’s the matter Won-Won, you don’t think you’ll have a smashing ol’ time with the Brown family?” Ginny laughed.
Ron glared at her. He was about to respond but Hermione had suddenly appeared.
“Hey Gin, Harry,” Hermione said brightly.
There was an awkward silence for a moment as she took a seat on Ginny’s other side. Ron’s ears turned slightly pink.
“But I haven’t decided yet. Perhaps I should take up Lavender’s offer. It may be a nice change for Christmas,” Ron said loudly.
Ginny noticed Hermione’s hand shake slightly as she lifted a fork.
Another awkward silence.
“Ginny, you must see my dress for the ball later today. It came in the mail,” Hermione said sweetly.
“I’d love to, Hermione,” Ginny said, offering her friend a smile. “And who’s the lucky bloke taking you?”
“Anthony Goldstein,” she said, blushing.
“That ruddy Ravenclaw doesn’t know a thing-” Ron had foolishly decided to open his mouth, but stopped speaking when Harry shook his head at him furiously.
Ginny sighed inwardly as the silence surrounded her once more. She could feel Hermione tense up next to her.
“Well, I should get going. I’m meeting Anthony before class. Some students become prefects based on their high marks and propensity for leadership. Others…I’m not so sure. The headmaster’s pity, I assume,” Hermione said coldly as she rose to her feet.
Ron’s mouth dropped slightly, but he quickly drew it shut into a scowl.
Ginny watched Hermione leave and in the process, her gaze returned to the Slytherin table. She could barely see Malfoy now that Theodore Nott sat across from him, his form obstructing her view. She was ready to accept the fact that he’d never look up towards her direction.
Theodore bent over to retrieve a fallen napkin. In that brief moment, Malfoy lifted his gaze to meet Ginny’s. His face was expressionless, but she could’ve sworn she’d seen his lips twitch slightly before Theodore returned to his upright position.
Ginny felt a rushing sound around her ears and her stomach lurched. Was that a smile? No, he must have accidentally looked my way.
“Ginny, let’s go, we don’t want to be late for class,” Colin said, tugging on her elbow.
“Oh, right,” she said, rising to her feet. She noticed that Malfoy had already disappeared.
Everyone was sitting with their respective groups when they got to class. There were students fumbling with note cards and rehearsing in front of their group members. Draco Malfoy was sitting off to the side with his feet propped onto his desk, his head tilted forward, and his eyes shut.
“Malfoy!” Olivia approached the sleeping boy, her expression frazzled. “Are you ready to go?”
Malfoy cracked an eye open at her lazily. “Of course I am.”
Olivia turned to face her group and shrugged. Her eyes were filled with anticipation. They had all helped put the presentation together and had insisted he deliver it, but they weren’t sure if he would let them down.
“Good morning, class,” Professor Burbage greeted them upon entering the room. Her sweeping black robes trailed behind her as she made her way to the front.
“We will begin our presentations momentarily, but first I’d like a few words,” she began, straightening herself out. “We have spent the greater portion of the Fall term studying Muggle history and contemporary conveniences. Once you return from the holidays, we will start working on practical application.”
A hand went up into the air.
“Yes?” Burbage asked, turning to face a Hufflepuff student.
“What do you mean by ‘practical application’? Muggles don’t have mag-”, the student started.
“Of course,” Burbage said as-of-matter-of-factly. “We will study how Muggles go about day-to-day activities without magic and practice ourselves.”
There was a mixture of groans and gasps throughout the room. The students had grown accustomed to using magic whenever possible. It was only during extreme punishments that they were asked to perform tasks without their wands.
“Tut, tut.” Burbage chided their response. “You’ve known about this from the beginning of the year. This will culminate in the tour of the Muggle city I mentioned before.”
“Now, if there aren’t any further questions, let’s begin.”
The presentations ran smoothly. They were required to take notes while the other students spoke. After three groups had gone, Ginny had filled out four sheets of paper in her notebook on the fighter plane, submarine, and flamethrowers. They were next.
Malfoy rose to his feet slowly, straightened out his robes and walked towards the front of the room.
Ginny’s group glanced at each other nervously. He had no note cards present with him.
He stared at the room haughtily. “My group and I researched the development and effects of bombs during the Second Great Muggle War. We covered the use of the bomb in Europe as well as the atomic bomb project that resulted in the annihilation of two Japanese provinces.”
“As one of the earlier groups already mentioned, airplanes were used during the war to deploy bombs. Initially this aerial bombing targeted industrial centers where Muggles produced military goods. Through the course of the war, this changed as more and more urban areas with dense populations were attacked.”
Ginny had to admit that Malfoy was doing a great job. He was engaging, confident, and definitely knew what he was talking about. His voice was steady and somber. But he had reached the subject she’d been dreading.
“In 1940 the Germans launched an attack against Britain that lasted nearly a year. It is estimated that nearly 43,000 British civilians were killed, including witches and wizards.”
Ginny’s hands felt clammy. There was a murmur of surprise throughout the class.
“The Allied forces, which included the countries of Britain, France, America, and Russia, used bombs themselves. Before I get to the most deadly of all, I want to explain what a bomb is.”
Malfoy’s eyes had clouded over with intensity. Ginny found herself leaning over her desk in anticipation, even though she knew what he was about to say.
“A bomb is an explosive device. This involves a combination of physics and chemistry, two Muggle disciplines that study the properties of objects and matter. This is much like alchemy, which we wizards and witches have studied extensively. When certain elements are combined, they alter the properties of each other and become a new, possibly deadly element. Muggle scientists were able to experiment and determine which of these elements could generate the most devastation.”
Malfoy went on to explain the properties of different elements and how Muggles were able to determine this. Ginny sat gaping at him. She had known none of this; Malfoy must have researched the information himself. She was stunned, in awe, and a little fearful of his knowledge over the subject.
“The American government had been developing a secret bomb project for years. Many of the scientists working on this were German refugees,” Malfoy continued. He paused to smile to himself for a moment. “It’s quite ironic, really.” The class continued to stare at him in stony silence and Malfoy quickly composed himself, becoming stoic once again.
“The Allied forces were winning the war against the Germans and forced them to surrender in 1945, Berlin having suffered much death and destruction from aerial bombings. But the war continued to rage in the Pacific, which is why the Americans decided to deploy two atomic bombs on Japan. These bombs were much more-”
Malfoy stopped speaking abruptly. She noticed his hands quake ever so slightly. He let out a tiny sigh and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Merlin, he’s getting emotional!
The class stared at him expectedly, wondering what the problem was.
Before Ginny knew what she was doing, she was on her feet, standing next to him. “These bombs were much more destructive and designed to destroy an entire city. They were used in the war to encourage a speedy surrender. The bombs were dropped from airplanes and exploded mid-air, which then created a characteristic mushroom-cloud formation. Several thousand people died on impact, while many more suffered the effects of radiation.”
Ginny continued to close the presentation and noticed that Malfoy had ducked away from her side and had left the classroom quietly. Nobody had noticed except her.
When she returned to her seat she received a round of applause and Professor Burbage beamed at her.
Once they were dismissed, Ginny was the first out of the room to find Malfoy. She wasn’t sure what had happened to him, but she almost thought his display of emotion endearing.
She found him sitting in a dank corridor, his knees propped up and his head pressed against the stone wall. He stared at a blank wall across from him, his gaze stony. His neat robes were now wrinkled, his hair falling into his eyes. Her heart lurched and the feeling surprised her. He looked utterly vulnerable.
“Malfoy?” she asked quietly, stopping a few feet away from him.
When he did nothing to acknowledge her presence, she continued. “Are you okay?”
He glanced at her a moment, his eyes slightly red, but then stared at his knees in silence.
“You did a really good job. We were all impressed.”
Still nothing.
She knelt in front of him, searching for his eyes. “Look, I know it was a difficult topic to cover. Which is why I didn’t want to do it in the first place, but you insisted and-”
He looked up to give her a sharp glare.
“Okay, so I didn’t come here to say ‘I told you so’, but it’s okay to be….troubled…by this. It was a horrid thing that happened to so many people.”
“You and your lot care so much about these Muggles. Look what they do to themselves. Look what they do to us.” Malfoy’s expression had hardened. His sneer was so big she could see some of his teeth barred.
Ginny laughed humorlessly. “And look what wizards do to each other! You know.” She stared at his left arm.
“It’s what humans do. Leaders make decisions at the expense of their followers. The Germans walked behind their leader, and the Americans behind theirs. It’s much like us. We do what the Ministry tells us to do. But sometimes it’s not just them, but…other…groups…like…,” she faltered slightly, not sure how to say ‘Death Eaters’ without enraging him.
“Mine,” he said flatly.
“Yes.” Ginny swallowed hard. “And you said you didn’t have a choice, right?” Her heart beat rapidly and she winced. She knew she had crossed one too many lines with him and waited for him to pin her against a wall with his wand at her temple.
He stared at her, his gaze steady. She shook a little, but not in fear. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it shut. Malfoy rose to his feet. “I need to go.”
Ginny shuddered involuntarily as she watched him disappear around the corner.
It had all gone by in such a blur. One moment she was studying for a Transfiguration exam, and the next, she was out in the hallways looking for Malfoy. She didn’t know what she was expecting to happen when she did find him.
Ginny turned multiple shades of red as she kept thinking about how Malfoy had kissed her. And that she’d actually liked it. Even worse still, she was afraid she’d been all too vocal about liking it. Neither Michael nor Dean had kissed her like that.
And the touch of his hands on my body… Ginny shivered at the thought. And then he’d pulled away when she’d been wanting more. It confused her. Was she not up to his standards?
What does it matter?! Oh my Lord, Malfoy kissed you! You should be taking every single cleansing potion possible to rid yourself of the foul taste!
But it really wasn’t bad…it was quite nice…
Perhaps she was just a spur of the moment snog. He was bored, she was there…
He’s probably with another girl right at this moment, that Astoria Greengrass for sure!
Ginny remembered the way his lips slid down her throat, the way he held her up when she thought her knees would cave in. She remembered the way his hand roamed down her back, and the way her body reacted accordingly.
Ginny groaned and threw a pillow over her face.
The next morning Ginny decided to put the incident behind her. It was an accident. A delicious accident, but an accident nonetheless.
She gave herself a light slap across the face. You need to forget about this. As she hurriedly twisted her hair into two sloppy braids, Ginny’s eyes widened. I smell like Draco Malfoy. She yanked at her two plaits and drew them across her freckled nose. Oh Merlin, he’s everywhere!
In a state of panic, she grabbed her bottle of Niveus Pluvia and sprayed it over herself generously. Ginny had been wearing the scent for years. It smelled of lilies. And this moment called for her to smell more like Ginny than ever before.
After she got dressed she headed towards the Common Room. She found a group of Gryffindor girls huddled into a mass with squeals of giggling emanating from them. There wasn’t a boy in sight. The whole lot of them had probably scared them all away.
“What’s going on?” Ginny asked, making her way towards the center. She found Lavender Brown holding a gorgeous set of magenta robes against her form. The girl was twirling around for the others to see.
“Oh, Ginny!” Lavender gushed, as though receiving a friend. “Come see my new dress robes for the ball next weekend!”
Ginny was about to raise an eyebrow in confusion when Parvati spoke up. “Ron will love them.”
The girls burst into a fit of giggles and Ginny wanted to laugh for an entirely different reason. “You’re going to the ball with my brother?”
“Yes.” Lavender beamed at her. “Isn’t it exciting?”
Ginny opened her mouth for a snide retort, but thought better of it. “Sure.”
She managed to back out of the crowd unnoticed and was shaking her head in disbelief when she spotted a bushy haired figure dart out of the portrait hole discreetly.
Ginny followed after Hermione. “Hermione,” she called out, attempting to catch up with her friend.
Hermione whirled around. Her expression was sullen, but the girl managed to flash Ginny and overtly forced smile.
“Hello, Ginny,” she said, clutching a stack of books to her chest.
“You all right?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
“Oh, yes,” Hermione nodded her head vigorously. “I just wanted to get a bit of reading in before breakfast and I couldn’t concentrate in the Common Room.”
She turned to walk away, but Ginny quickly added, “He’s a big git.”
Hermione stiffened, but didn’t look back at Ginny as she hurried down the hallway.
Ginny sighed. Ron really deserved a smack upside the head sometimes. In a way she was relieved that Ron was taking an active role with girls, despite his questionable interest. It allowed her to kiss a boy without Ron jumping down her throat.
Although he may still do that if he knew who Ginny had kissed recently. She shook away the thought. You said you’d forget about it!
Ginny didn’t realize the ball was just around the corner. She was looking forward to it, seeing as how the whole school was going to be there and she’d heard that the new Wizarding band, Apollo’s Dream would be performing.
Since she’d broken up with Dean three boys had asked her to the dance, but she had declined all of them. She thought about going with Neville, since he’d taken her to the Yule Ball, but he was going with a girl from Hufflepuff, Megan Jones. Colin would’ve been her next choice, but he’d already asked Luna.
Ginny’s mind rattled off various names, trying to figure out who would be the most bearable to attend the ball with. She headed towards the Great Hall and found where all the Gryffindor boys had stowed away to.
She found a seat across from Harry and Ron.
“So, Ron,” Ginny said, grinning. She just had to tease him about this.
Ron quirked an eyebrow up at her as he shoveled a forkful of blueberry waffles into his mouth.
“Lavender is just so thrilled to be attending the ball with you,” she said, her grin still in place.
Ron stopped chewing for a moment for his cheeks to tinge pink. Harry’s lips quivered slightly.
“Buwwar ooff, Inny.” He scowled through his stuffed mouth.
Harry tried to conceal a laugh as a cough. “Who’s taking you, Gin?” he asked her.
Ginny’s face suddenly grew hot. “Er…nobody yet.”
“As it should be,” Ron said, normal speech having returned to him. He was about to continue eating when a look of realization suddenly framed his freckled face. “Hey, Harry! Why don’t you-”
Ron wasn’t able to finish his thought because the table suddenly clattered loudly, followed by a very ungracious “oof!” escaping his mouth.
Harry was staring at the table in front of him, his face expressionless, but his ears bright red. The two of them were oddly quiet.
“Er, there’s Lavender,” Ron said, rising to his feet. “I should…go…see…” he broke off into a run towards a direction where nobody the likes of Lavender stood.
Ginny fidgeted in her seat, avoiding Harry’s presence. If only she had “a Lavender” to run off to.
“Um, that wasn’t the least bit embarrassing,” Harry chuckled, ruffling his hair with a hand.
Ginny looked up to meet his gaze and smiled. “Ron isn’t the most sententious of people.”
“Hardly,” Harry said.
There was another awkward moment of silence.
“Er, Ginny?” Harry asked.
“Yes, Harry?”
“If you don’t have anyone to go to the ball with, and well, you’d like to go with someone, you know, as…a friend and all, then you’d be honored,” he blushed at his mistake. “…I mean I’d be honored if I could escort you?”
He looked at her hopefully, his green eyes gleaming in anticipation.
“Sure, Harry.” Ginny smiled. “I’d be honored.”
Ginny had waited for years for Harry Potter to be at a loss for words around her, and now that the moment had arrived, she felt compassion for the young man that had grown to become like the seventh brother she’d never had.
She wasn’t ignorant of his behavior recently. He’d become more reserved and formal around her, treating her like a woman instead of his kid sister. How things have changed, Ginny thought sadly.
His handsome face lit up. “Great!” And then he quickly sobered his expression in embarrassment. “I mean…well…it should be fun.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what I’m going to wear,” Ginny said, more to herself. She watched Harry fumble for an appropriate response, but as if on cue, a brown spotted owl holding a package flew into the Hall and landed in front of Ginny.
She opened it hastily. The girls, who had all decided to take a break from their giggling, had finally decided to sit down to breakfast and were anxiously watching Ginny open her package.
She first found a letter in her mother’s handwriting.
Ginny,
I decided to send you something new. Hope you enjoy your time at the ball. Give our regards to Ron, Harry, and Hermione.
Lots of love,
Mum
Ginny tossed the letter aside to find what her mother had been talking about. She gasped as she held up a beautiful white and gold set of robes. It took quite a bit to take her breath away, but the new robes certainly did it for her.
“Oh, Ginny!” Parvati breathed dreamily. “They’re beautiful!”
Ginny was suddenly aware that the greater portion of the Hall had become quiet and was gaping at her and her new robes. She blushed and quickly stuffed the robes back into its packaging.
“Well, that definitely takes care of your problem, yeah?” Harry said.
“Yeah.” Ginny laughed in bewilderment. “It definitely does.”
Ginny spent the greater portion of her Saturday afternoon sitting with Colin and Luna in the library. It was much too cold to go outside.
“So Harry and you, huh?” Colin attempted to feign innocence, but his eyes gleamed mischievously.
“Yes, me and Harry,” she said, pulling at the loose strands of hair that had fallen out of her braids.
Luna was hunched over a pile of books. She looked up from her reading for a moment to stare at Ginny thoughtfully.
“You don’t sound thrilled.”
Ginny swallowed hard. “I’m happy. I’m going with a good friend of mine.”
Colin snorted. “A good friend, eh? I suppose we’ve come a long way since singing Valentines and hours of writing in a dia-”
Ginny’s face blanched. Oh, why had he brought that up?
Colin looked at her peculiarly. “You all right, Ginny? I was only teasing. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
Ginny balled her fists under the table they were sitting at. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about what had happened to her during her first year. She couldn’t blame Colin for what he’d said; he hadn’t known.
“I’m fine,” she said quietly, gritting her teeth to get the words out calmly.
There was a silence among them, filled only with the sound of turning pages as Luna thumbed through a book.
“Are we almost done with the Muggle Studies project?” Luna asked, keeping her eyes on her reading.
“Yes, I believe so. We haven’t decided who the spokesperson will be, though,” Ginny said, grateful for the change in subject.
“I think you should do it, Ginny,” Colin said, eyeing her nervously. “I think you really know this stuff.”
“Oh, well, I’m not really comfortable with public speaking,” she lied. She really did not want to stand in front of a group of students and talk about the development and use of Muggle bombs during the Second Great Muggle War.
“Rubbish, you’re very eloquent,” Colin said, folding his arms across his chest.
“We should make Malfoy do it, after all, it was his idea and he’s quite loquacious when the occasion calls for it,” Luna said.
Ginny’s skin prickled at the mention of his name. “Yes, he should do it.”
They were to give their presentation on Wednesday and everything seemed to be ready to go. Ginny had been anxious to see Malfoy before then just so see how he’d react to her.
She hadn’t seen him during meals, nor had he been present whenever she’d seen his cronies lurking in the hallways. It seemed odd, and she felt a tiny sense of concern over his absence.
Stop it; it’s good you can’t find him. Maybe then you can stop obsessing over him.
I’m not obsessing!
On Wednesday morning Ginny stared into her oatmeal during breakfast. Their presentation was coming up.
As other students began to trickle into the Great Hall Ginny finally spotted the shock of platinum blond hair she’d been searching for. Draco Malfoy took a seat in-between Crabbe and Zabini. He looked a bit peaky, but as always, he was a vision of perfection with his freshly pressed robes and his hair combed back.
Ginny couldn’t help staring at him, wondering if he’d look up and see her. She drummed her fingers against the tabletop impatiently.
“Nervous about your presentation?” Harry’s voice broke into her anticipation as he took a seat next to her.
“Er, yeah,” she said absently, turning to give him a polite smile.
“I’m sure things will go fine,” he said reassuringly.
“Thanks, Harry,” Ginny said. Her eyes went back to the Slytherin table. Malfoy was leaning towards Zabini in conversation. Astoria Greengrass sat a few feet away with her gaggle of fourth year girls.
Look up, look up!
Her thoughts were once again interrupted by the sound of school books slamming against the table. She jumped slightly, looking for the source of the commotion.
Ron took a seat across from Harry, his fists clenched at his sides.
“Something the matter, Ron?” Harry asked with an amused expression on his face.
“Lavender is what’s the matter.” He exhaled loudly. “She asked me to spend the Christmas holiday with her family. Her family, Harry! She’s bloody mad, I tell you! I ask the girl to a school dance and this is what I get?”
“What’s the matter Won-Won, you don’t think you’ll have a smashing ol’ time with the Brown family?” Ginny laughed.
Ron glared at her. He was about to respond but Hermione had suddenly appeared.
“Hey Gin, Harry,” Hermione said brightly.
There was an awkward silence for a moment as she took a seat on Ginny’s other side. Ron’s ears turned slightly pink.
“But I haven’t decided yet. Perhaps I should take up Lavender’s offer. It may be a nice change for Christmas,” Ron said loudly.
Ginny noticed Hermione’s hand shake slightly as she lifted a fork.
Another awkward silence.
“Ginny, you must see my dress for the ball later today. It came in the mail,” Hermione said sweetly.
“I’d love to, Hermione,” Ginny said, offering her friend a smile. “And who’s the lucky bloke taking you?”
“Anthony Goldstein,” she said, blushing.
“That ruddy Ravenclaw doesn’t know a thing-” Ron had foolishly decided to open his mouth, but stopped speaking when Harry shook his head at him furiously.
Ginny sighed inwardly as the silence surrounded her once more. She could feel Hermione tense up next to her.
“Well, I should get going. I’m meeting Anthony before class. Some students become prefects based on their high marks and propensity for leadership. Others…I’m not so sure. The headmaster’s pity, I assume,” Hermione said coldly as she rose to her feet.
Ron’s mouth dropped slightly, but he quickly drew it shut into a scowl.
Ginny watched Hermione leave and in the process, her gaze returned to the Slytherin table. She could barely see Malfoy now that Theodore Nott sat across from him, his form obstructing her view. She was ready to accept the fact that he’d never look up towards her direction.
Theodore bent over to retrieve a fallen napkin. In that brief moment, Malfoy lifted his gaze to meet Ginny’s. His face was expressionless, but she could’ve sworn she’d seen his lips twitch slightly before Theodore returned to his upright position.
Ginny felt a rushing sound around her ears and her stomach lurched. Was that a smile? No, he must have accidentally looked my way.
“Ginny, let’s go, we don’t want to be late for class,” Colin said, tugging on her elbow.
“Oh, right,” she said, rising to her feet. She noticed that Malfoy had already disappeared.
Everyone was sitting with their respective groups when they got to class. There were students fumbling with note cards and rehearsing in front of their group members. Draco Malfoy was sitting off to the side with his feet propped onto his desk, his head tilted forward, and his eyes shut.
“Malfoy!” Olivia approached the sleeping boy, her expression frazzled. “Are you ready to go?”
Malfoy cracked an eye open at her lazily. “Of course I am.”
Olivia turned to face her group and shrugged. Her eyes were filled with anticipation. They had all helped put the presentation together and had insisted he deliver it, but they weren’t sure if he would let them down.
“Good morning, class,” Professor Burbage greeted them upon entering the room. Her sweeping black robes trailed behind her as she made her way to the front.
“We will begin our presentations momentarily, but first I’d like a few words,” she began, straightening herself out. “We have spent the greater portion of the Fall term studying Muggle history and contemporary conveniences. Once you return from the holidays, we will start working on practical application.”
A hand went up into the air.
“Yes?” Burbage asked, turning to face a Hufflepuff student.
“What do you mean by ‘practical application’? Muggles don’t have mag-”, the student started.
“Of course,” Burbage said as-of-matter-of-factly. “We will study how Muggles go about day-to-day activities without magic and practice ourselves.”
There was a mixture of groans and gasps throughout the room. The students had grown accustomed to using magic whenever possible. It was only during extreme punishments that they were asked to perform tasks without their wands.
“Tut, tut.” Burbage chided their response. “You’ve known about this from the beginning of the year. This will culminate in the tour of the Muggle city I mentioned before.”
“Now, if there aren’t any further questions, let’s begin.”
The presentations ran smoothly. They were required to take notes while the other students spoke. After three groups had gone, Ginny had filled out four sheets of paper in her notebook on the fighter plane, submarine, and flamethrowers. They were next.
Malfoy rose to his feet slowly, straightened out his robes and walked towards the front of the room.
Ginny’s group glanced at each other nervously. He had no note cards present with him.
He stared at the room haughtily. “My group and I researched the development and effects of bombs during the Second Great Muggle War. We covered the use of the bomb in Europe as well as the atomic bomb project that resulted in the annihilation of two Japanese provinces.”
“As one of the earlier groups already mentioned, airplanes were used during the war to deploy bombs. Initially this aerial bombing targeted industrial centers where Muggles produced military goods. Through the course of the war, this changed as more and more urban areas with dense populations were attacked.”
Ginny had to admit that Malfoy was doing a great job. He was engaging, confident, and definitely knew what he was talking about. His voice was steady and somber. But he had reached the subject she’d been dreading.
“In 1940 the Germans launched an attack against Britain that lasted nearly a year. It is estimated that nearly 43,000 British civilians were killed, including witches and wizards.”
Ginny’s hands felt clammy. There was a murmur of surprise throughout the class.
“The Allied forces, which included the countries of Britain, France, America, and Russia, used bombs themselves. Before I get to the most deadly of all, I want to explain what a bomb is.”
Malfoy’s eyes had clouded over with intensity. Ginny found herself leaning over her desk in anticipation, even though she knew what he was about to say.
“A bomb is an explosive device. This involves a combination of physics and chemistry, two Muggle disciplines that study the properties of objects and matter. This is much like alchemy, which we wizards and witches have studied extensively. When certain elements are combined, they alter the properties of each other and become a new, possibly deadly element. Muggle scientists were able to experiment and determine which of these elements could generate the most devastation.”
Malfoy went on to explain the properties of different elements and how Muggles were able to determine this. Ginny sat gaping at him. She had known none of this; Malfoy must have researched the information himself. She was stunned, in awe, and a little fearful of his knowledge over the subject.
“The American government had been developing a secret bomb project for years. Many of the scientists working on this were German refugees,” Malfoy continued. He paused to smile to himself for a moment. “It’s quite ironic, really.” The class continued to stare at him in stony silence and Malfoy quickly composed himself, becoming stoic once again.
“The Allied forces were winning the war against the Germans and forced them to surrender in 1945, Berlin having suffered much death and destruction from aerial bombings. But the war continued to rage in the Pacific, which is why the Americans decided to deploy two atomic bombs on Japan. These bombs were much more-”
Malfoy stopped speaking abruptly. She noticed his hands quake ever so slightly. He let out a tiny sigh and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Merlin, he’s getting emotional!
The class stared at him expectedly, wondering what the problem was.
Before Ginny knew what she was doing, she was on her feet, standing next to him. “These bombs were much more destructive and designed to destroy an entire city. They were used in the war to encourage a speedy surrender. The bombs were dropped from airplanes and exploded mid-air, which then created a characteristic mushroom-cloud formation. Several thousand people died on impact, while many more suffered the effects of radiation.”
Ginny continued to close the presentation and noticed that Malfoy had ducked away from her side and had left the classroom quietly. Nobody had noticed except her.
When she returned to her seat she received a round of applause and Professor Burbage beamed at her.
Once they were dismissed, Ginny was the first out of the room to find Malfoy. She wasn’t sure what had happened to him, but she almost thought his display of emotion endearing.
She found him sitting in a dank corridor, his knees propped up and his head pressed against the stone wall. He stared at a blank wall across from him, his gaze stony. His neat robes were now wrinkled, his hair falling into his eyes. Her heart lurched and the feeling surprised her. He looked utterly vulnerable.
“Malfoy?” she asked quietly, stopping a few feet away from him.
When he did nothing to acknowledge her presence, she continued. “Are you okay?”
He glanced at her a moment, his eyes slightly red, but then stared at his knees in silence.
“You did a really good job. We were all impressed.”
Still nothing.
She knelt in front of him, searching for his eyes. “Look, I know it was a difficult topic to cover. Which is why I didn’t want to do it in the first place, but you insisted and-”
He looked up to give her a sharp glare.
“Okay, so I didn’t come here to say ‘I told you so’, but it’s okay to be….troubled…by this. It was a horrid thing that happened to so many people.”
“You and your lot care so much about these Muggles. Look what they do to themselves. Look what they do to us.” Malfoy’s expression had hardened. His sneer was so big she could see some of his teeth barred.
Ginny laughed humorlessly. “And look what wizards do to each other! You know.” She stared at his left arm.
“It’s what humans do. Leaders make decisions at the expense of their followers. The Germans walked behind their leader, and the Americans behind theirs. It’s much like us. We do what the Ministry tells us to do. But sometimes it’s not just them, but…other…groups…like…,” she faltered slightly, not sure how to say ‘Death Eaters’ without enraging him.
“Mine,” he said flatly.
“Yes.” Ginny swallowed hard. “And you said you didn’t have a choice, right?” Her heart beat rapidly and she winced. She knew she had crossed one too many lines with him and waited for him to pin her against a wall with his wand at her temple.
He stared at her, his gaze steady. She shook a little, but not in fear. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it shut. Malfoy rose to his feet. “I need to go.”
Ginny shuddered involuntarily as she watched him disappear around the corner.
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