Ginny couldn’t help the large grin that spread over her face. “Thank you!”
“It’s rubbish that the professors aren’t giving us candy this year,” he told her, gracefully lowering himself into the chair next to hers. He handed her the bag. “Sodding Snape and his stupid rules. I swear, he just loves to see everyone as miserable as he is.”
She peaked inside and pulled out a large chocoball. “Yum.” She passed the bag back to Draco. “Where’d you get all this?”
“Mum. She keeps my sweet tooth happy.” Draco pulled out a handful of chocolate frogs and unwrapped one. “These are my favorite.”
She watched as it tried to hop out of his hand, but he snatched it and, dangling it by one leg, dropped in to his mouth. “I like these.” She had bitten through the chocolate layer and was licking the strawberry and cream filling.
“What else do you like?” Draco was dangling another frog over his mouth.
“Sugar quills,” she told him. “And treacle fudge, even though it’s hard to talk after you eat it. My brothers used to give it to me when I was little and bothering them. Made mum furious!”
Draco laughed and Ginny decided she liked the way his eyes actually seemed to glitter when he laughed. “What else?”
“Those are my favorites-”
“I mean what else besides candy?” he demanded.
“You want to know my favorite everything?” Ginny plucked the bag out of his lap and dug out another chocoball.
“Sure, why not?”
“Okay,” she eyed him, desperately wanting to know about his shirt. She was certain that Malfoy’s didn’t wear things that weren’t new. “I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”
“Deal,” he said, holding his hands out for the bag. “Favorite subject?”
“Quidditch,” she laughed, tossing him a single frog. “Besides that, I like charms and spell writing. You?”
“I like potions,” he told her, his voice muffled slightly as he swallowed another chocolate frog. “And transfiguration. But don’t tell McGonagall!”
She giggled. “I won’t – for now. One day I might need to blackmail you with that fact!”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Draco’s silver eyes flashed playfully at her.
“We’ll see. Favorite Quidditch team?”
“Easy. Canons. They’re going to win the cup soon.”
“Are you serious?” Ginny began to laugh so hard she almost fell off her chair.
“They are!” he said defensively. “This season they just picked up three amazing first string players – Linn Liverstones, Amelia Ackersbee and-”
“And Rastor Smythe,” she told him between giggles. “I know.”
“Then what’s so funny?” he asked crossly, snatching the candy bag from her lap and fold his arms over his chest.
“Nothing, nothing,” she wiped at her eyes. “It’s just that the Canon’s are Ron’s favorite team too.”
Draco’s mouth opened and closed once before his trademark sneer appeared. “You’re joking.”
“Nope!” She grinned widely and made a dive for the candy bag. “I’ll have to tell him. You two can talk about how wonderful the Canon’s are. I bet you’ll even become best mates over it! I’d owl him, but I don’t know where he is, so it’ll have to wait.”
Draco held the candy bag away from her. “You are a truly evil witch.”
She shook her head, her long red hair flying. “Nope, not at all. Now give me the candy.”
“Never!” Draco jumped to his feet and held the bag above his head. “I can’t believe I even shared it with you to begin with.”
“So your shirt used to say Canons?” she asked, still grinning, her hands on her hips as she watched him hold the candy away from her and calculated her next move.
“I like this shirt,” he scowled. “Mum was always trying to get rid of it because it’s old, but it’s my favorite.”
“Mm-hmm.” She lunged for him, catching him off guard.
Draco stepped backwards as Ginny’s hand closed around the candy bag and they both fell back, landing in a heap across the chairs.
“You okay?” he asked roughly.
“I think so.” She shifted so that all of her weight wasn’t directly on Draco. “Thanks for breaking my fall.”
Ignoring the spilled candy around them, Draco pulled her back on top of him and then reached up and slid his fingers up her jaw line, over her ear and into her hair. She could feel his fingers curling slightly and tugging ever so gently at the hair above her neck. “I’ve wanted to do this,” he began, and Ginny knew exactly what was coming.
His fingers in her hair tightened ever so slightly as he gently moved her head towards his. Her breath caught in anticipation and then their lips were touching. Ginny could taste the sweetness of the chocolates they had been eating and could feel the roughness of his skin against hers and for a moment she forgot to breathe. She wanted to run her fingers over every single inch of his skin, but settled for bringing both her hands to his chin, cupping his face as they kissed.
His breathing was heavier and she could feel each beat of his heart since her own chest was pressed against his as they kissed, still sprawled on the floor.
I’m kissing Draco. I’m kissing Draco Malfoy and I really like it.
Then Ginny quit thinking about their kiss and just kissed him.
**~~**
“I put her up to it,” Draco said loudly, getting astonished looks from Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy.
“Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy?” Snape said, his voice thin. “What did you just say?”
“In Dark Arts we were told to practice those curses on people who got detention,” Draco said, his voice still loud and clear.
“That’s Defense Against Dark Arts,” the new headmaster said, narrowing his eyes at Ginny. “Did Ms. Weasley have detention?”
“No, but she should have,” Draco continued. “I heard her saying that Professor Alecto was rubbish. So I used Imperius on her. Everyone was making such a big deal about the sword. I wanted to know what was so special about it.”
Snape’s cold eyes focused on Ginny and she immediately knew he was fully aware of Draco’s lie. From behind her, she could feel Neville and Luna’s shock radiating off their bodies. “Very well then,” he said, his oily voice so low Ginny had to strain to hear him. “Detention. The three of you will serve it tonight with Hagrid. He has chores in the Forbidden Forest.”
“If she was under an unforgivable curse,” Neville began to protest.
“I have been led to believe that the two of you acted under your own free will,” Snape spat. “So unless you’d like a more severe punishment…”
“Come on,” Ginny muttered, grabbing Luna’s wrist. From the corner of her eye, she watched in bitter disappointment as Snape began to descend a staircase with the sword they had tried so hard to obtain.
“Why did Malfoy say that?” Neville demanded when they had turned a corner. “You’re not under the curse, are you?”
She shook her head, her long red hair spilling free of its ponytail. “No I’m not.”
*~*
“What were you thinking?” Draco’s voice didn’t have to be loud to be intimidating. It was the low, cold sharpness of his words that caught her attention.
“You know what I was thinking,” Ginny yawned. “Now let me go to bed.”
“After what I did for you, the least you could do is just say it. Just be honest.”
Ginny didn’t like to see Draco upset. In the months they had spent together – mostly in secret – Ginny found it was easy to tell when he was really upset. His voice dropped, his fists balled, he got two twin spots of pink on his cheeks marring the paleness of his cheeks. “Dumbledore left it to Harry. You know that. It belongs to Harry and I wanted him to have a chance at it. It might be important! It could end this war.”
She didn’t know if it was the disgust in his eyes or the disappointment that bothered her more.
“Really Ginny? For Potter?” Draco’s lips were twisted into the sneer she was so used to seeing on his face.
“Yes for him. Just the sword. I wasn’t going to package myself up and go along with it!” she snapped back.
“Do I even need to ask how you thought you would get it to him? Getting it out of Snape’s office was just the beginning you know. Did you think he’d just show up on the school doorstep waiting for it? Or were you going to owl it to him?”
“Don’t be an arse,” she muttered. “I don’t know. It just seemed like a good idea.”
“It wasn’t!” He threw his hands up in the air and then folded them over his chest.
“Yeah, got that.”
He pulled her closer and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What were you thinking? Do you know what kind of punishment you would have gotten if someone else had caught you?”
“Or if you hadn’t lied about cursing me?”
“Snape knew I was lying.”
Ginny nodded, leaning her head on his chest. “Yes, he did.”
“You got off easy.” Draco took her by the shoulders and moved her firmly back, staring into her eyes.
“The Forbidden Forest isn’t easy!” She shook her shoulders slightly, trying to get back to her comfortable position. They hadn’t finished in the forest until well after midnight, and Draco had been waiting on the third floor landing when they returned to the castle. After they saw Luna to her dorm, she lied to Neville, telling him she’d be in the Prefect’s bathroom. He had been reluctant to leave her side, but she had finally convinced him that she could make it to the common room just fine.
“You were with that half-blood,” he drawled, letting her fall back into his chest. “You were fine. That’s why Snape sent you there.”
“Don’t call him that,” Ginny said, her voice heavy with sleep.
“Don’t do anything else for Potter.” His voice was low and sharp again, while his fingers traced their way down Ginny’s spine and back up.
She wanted to argue with him, but it was pointless. Harry hadn’t tried to contact her at all. She was at school, and he was out doing… well, whatever he was doing. She couldn’t wait for him forever. “There’s nothing else to do for him.”
“Promise you won’t. You’ll just get into more trouble. I can’t always be there to save you.” His hands were now tangled in the back of her hair, tugging on it ever so slightly, sending breathless chills down her back. She wanted to lean up and kiss him, but didn’t. The few times they had kissed, he had initiated them, and as much as she wanted to, she just wasn’t ready to make the first move. With anyone else, it would have been easy, but Draco wasn’t anyone else. He was difficult, funny, moody, unpredictable Draco.
“I can save myself.”
The slight tug in her hair became a firm one, and she found herself staring up at him.
“I mean it,” he told her.
And then he leaned down and kissed her, and she was no longer tired. Instead she could taste the sweetness of his mouth and felt the fire in the way he kissed her. He kissed her like no one else ever had – or could, she decided – even when she’d tried to create the same fire with Harry. Draco’s kisses made her insides quiver and burn simultaneously. His hands creating a fist in the back of her hair, tugging on it, made her want to throw her clothes off and confess her love for him. Instead, she just kissed back, trying to enjoy the warmth of his body pressed into hers and the feel of his soft mouth and the smell of his faint cologne all at the same time.
**~~**
“Happy Christmas.” Ginny handed Draco the box that she had purposely wrapped in shiny emerald green paper and tied with a silver ribbon.
“What is this?” he asked, and Ginny could tell he was attempting not to look delighted. “You said you weren’t going to get me anything.”
“I wasn’t,” she grinned at him, sprawling across the dusty sofa that sat in the middle of their mostly empty room. Hogwarts had so many empty rooms she wondered how it was that more students didn’t take advantage of them. Or maybe they did and she just didn’t know about it. “But I figured you’d be disappointed if I didn’t.”
Draco looked up at her, his silver eyes locking with her own. “You know me too well, don’t you?”
She wished she had a camera as he yanked the bow off and sent green paper flying in every direction. Colin was the one with the camera and it had come in handy for the holidays.
Draco pulled the silver frame from the box, and she was pleasantly surprised to see an actual smile on his face. She knew that in the picture she was still alternating between smiling sweetly at the viewer and poking fun at Draco for trying to look so serious, all while sitting in his lap.
Colin was one of the few people who knew about the two of them; in fact, he was the only one Ginny could think of who knew they were seeing each other. Colin’s once annoying photography hobby had turned into his obsession and he was damn good at it. He was planning a professional career in photography when he finished at Hogwarts.
The three of them had been lounging in the third floor forbidden corridor; she’d brought Colin along for his photography skills. That day they were reading letters from their families, all full of good and encouraging news – even Draco’s, Ginny decided, if you looked at it in the right way – and eating candies that Fred and George had sent.
“I like this candy,” Draco had told her, “even though I’m not sure I’ll like your brothers.”
“Who says they’ll like you?” Ginny had shot back. “Besides, that candy just turned your hair purple.”
The photo she had framed for Draco was taken right after his hair had returned to its normal shade of white blond.
They had laughed and talked and dreamed in that room for hours, just the three of them, temporarily safe from the war and the Carrow’s and reality.
“It’s perfect,” Draco said looking up from the picture, bringing Ginny back to the present. “Thank you.”
“Welcome,” she said, leaning down to kiss him.
As they kissed, Draco slid a large purple wrapped box out from under a chair. “For you.”
“You said you weren’t going to get me anything!” Ginny looked at the shiny box with dismay. It was at least five times bigger than the box she had given Draco.
“You said the same thing!” He kissed her nose and shoved the box in her lap. “Open it.”
Ginny reluctantly drew back from him. While presents were always nice, she couldn’t imagine anything better than kissing him. Carefully, she peeled back the paper until she could easily lift the top from the box. Inside the box was a shimmering material of dark green. The color reminded her of how the tree tops in the Forbidden Forest looked from the windows in the Gryffindor tower. She pulled it out and discovered it was a cloak. The material was light to the touch, but she could instantly tell that it would be warm. It latched at the neck with a twisted silver clasp, and had similar ones going down the front.
“It’s charmed,” Draco said quietly. “More than charmed, actually.”
“Is it a love potion?” she asked, grinning. “It’s beautiful, but you weren’t supposed to get me anything! All I got you was a picture.”
“In a goblin made silver frame,” he pointed out.
She wasn’t about to tell him that the frame, while it had been a bargain because the shop keeper seemed unaware it was goblin made, had cleaned out her savings.
“Besides, the cloak is more for safety than anything.”
“Safety?” she repeated, rubbing the soft material against her cheek.
Draco nodded. “It’s made to repel a lot of hexes and curses and such. I mean, if the Dark Lord or someone tried to curse you I don’t imagine the cloak would do much good. But these idiots here, if they try again, well, you should be okay. Maybe just some aches and pains, but no more blowing you off your feet or knocking you unconscious.”
Ginny stared at him, unsure of how to properly thank him. Her house had been the subjects of daily assaults, and when she was the victim, Draco went into a rage. She knew he had cursed his housemates in their sleep more than once over it. “Thank you. It’s so beautiful and perfect.”
He nodded curtly. “Wear it.”
“I will.”
“Wear it on the train tomorrow and on the way back to school.”
Ginny nodded. “Okay.”
Draco reached for her and pulled her into his lap.
“I wish I didn’t have to go home for the Holidays.”
“Me too. I want you to stay right here with me.” He kissed her chin, then her lips. “Just me and you.”
He kissed her again and Ginny felt herself melting into him, his lips causing her worries to vanish.
“It’s rubbish that the professors aren’t giving us candy this year,” he told her, gracefully lowering himself into the chair next to hers. He handed her the bag. “Sodding Snape and his stupid rules. I swear, he just loves to see everyone as miserable as he is.”
She peaked inside and pulled out a large chocoball. “Yum.” She passed the bag back to Draco. “Where’d you get all this?”
“Mum. She keeps my sweet tooth happy.” Draco pulled out a handful of chocolate frogs and unwrapped one. “These are my favorite.”
She watched as it tried to hop out of his hand, but he snatched it and, dangling it by one leg, dropped in to his mouth. “I like these.” She had bitten through the chocolate layer and was licking the strawberry and cream filling.
“What else do you like?” Draco was dangling another frog over his mouth.
“Sugar quills,” she told him. “And treacle fudge, even though it’s hard to talk after you eat it. My brothers used to give it to me when I was little and bothering them. Made mum furious!”
Draco laughed and Ginny decided she liked the way his eyes actually seemed to glitter when he laughed. “What else?”
“Those are my favorites-”
“I mean what else besides candy?” he demanded.
“You want to know my favorite everything?” Ginny plucked the bag out of his lap and dug out another chocoball.
“Sure, why not?”
“Okay,” she eyed him, desperately wanting to know about his shirt. She was certain that Malfoy’s didn’t wear things that weren’t new. “I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”
“Deal,” he said, holding his hands out for the bag. “Favorite subject?”
“Quidditch,” she laughed, tossing him a single frog. “Besides that, I like charms and spell writing. You?”
“I like potions,” he told her, his voice muffled slightly as he swallowed another chocolate frog. “And transfiguration. But don’t tell McGonagall!”
She giggled. “I won’t – for now. One day I might need to blackmail you with that fact!”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Draco’s silver eyes flashed playfully at her.
“We’ll see. Favorite Quidditch team?”
“Easy. Canons. They’re going to win the cup soon.”
“Are you serious?” Ginny began to laugh so hard she almost fell off her chair.
“They are!” he said defensively. “This season they just picked up three amazing first string players – Linn Liverstones, Amelia Ackersbee and-”
“And Rastor Smythe,” she told him between giggles. “I know.”
“Then what’s so funny?” he asked crossly, snatching the candy bag from her lap and fold his arms over his chest.
“Nothing, nothing,” she wiped at her eyes. “It’s just that the Canon’s are Ron’s favorite team too.”
Draco’s mouth opened and closed once before his trademark sneer appeared. “You’re joking.”
“Nope!” She grinned widely and made a dive for the candy bag. “I’ll have to tell him. You two can talk about how wonderful the Canon’s are. I bet you’ll even become best mates over it! I’d owl him, but I don’t know where he is, so it’ll have to wait.”
Draco held the candy bag away from her. “You are a truly evil witch.”
She shook her head, her long red hair flying. “Nope, not at all. Now give me the candy.”
“Never!” Draco jumped to his feet and held the bag above his head. “I can’t believe I even shared it with you to begin with.”
“So your shirt used to say Canons?” she asked, still grinning, her hands on her hips as she watched him hold the candy away from her and calculated her next move.
“I like this shirt,” he scowled. “Mum was always trying to get rid of it because it’s old, but it’s my favorite.”
“Mm-hmm.” She lunged for him, catching him off guard.
Draco stepped backwards as Ginny’s hand closed around the candy bag and they both fell back, landing in a heap across the chairs.
“You okay?” he asked roughly.
“I think so.” She shifted so that all of her weight wasn’t directly on Draco. “Thanks for breaking my fall.”
Ignoring the spilled candy around them, Draco pulled her back on top of him and then reached up and slid his fingers up her jaw line, over her ear and into her hair. She could feel his fingers curling slightly and tugging ever so gently at the hair above her neck. “I’ve wanted to do this,” he began, and Ginny knew exactly what was coming.
His fingers in her hair tightened ever so slightly as he gently moved her head towards his. Her breath caught in anticipation and then their lips were touching. Ginny could taste the sweetness of the chocolates they had been eating and could feel the roughness of his skin against hers and for a moment she forgot to breathe. She wanted to run her fingers over every single inch of his skin, but settled for bringing both her hands to his chin, cupping his face as they kissed.
His breathing was heavier and she could feel each beat of his heart since her own chest was pressed against his as they kissed, still sprawled on the floor.
I’m kissing Draco. I’m kissing Draco Malfoy and I really like it.
Then Ginny quit thinking about their kiss and just kissed him.
**~~**
“I put her up to it,” Draco said loudly, getting astonished looks from Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy.
“Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy?” Snape said, his voice thin. “What did you just say?”
“In Dark Arts we were told to practice those curses on people who got detention,” Draco said, his voice still loud and clear.
“That’s Defense Against Dark Arts,” the new headmaster said, narrowing his eyes at Ginny. “Did Ms. Weasley have detention?”
“No, but she should have,” Draco continued. “I heard her saying that Professor Alecto was rubbish. So I used Imperius on her. Everyone was making such a big deal about the sword. I wanted to know what was so special about it.”
Snape’s cold eyes focused on Ginny and she immediately knew he was fully aware of Draco’s lie. From behind her, she could feel Neville and Luna’s shock radiating off their bodies. “Very well then,” he said, his oily voice so low Ginny had to strain to hear him. “Detention. The three of you will serve it tonight with Hagrid. He has chores in the Forbidden Forest.”
“If she was under an unforgivable curse,” Neville began to protest.
“I have been led to believe that the two of you acted under your own free will,” Snape spat. “So unless you’d like a more severe punishment…”
“Come on,” Ginny muttered, grabbing Luna’s wrist. From the corner of her eye, she watched in bitter disappointment as Snape began to descend a staircase with the sword they had tried so hard to obtain.
“Why did Malfoy say that?” Neville demanded when they had turned a corner. “You’re not under the curse, are you?”
She shook her head, her long red hair spilling free of its ponytail. “No I’m not.”
*~*
“What were you thinking?” Draco’s voice didn’t have to be loud to be intimidating. It was the low, cold sharpness of his words that caught her attention.
“You know what I was thinking,” Ginny yawned. “Now let me go to bed.”
“After what I did for you, the least you could do is just say it. Just be honest.”
Ginny didn’t like to see Draco upset. In the months they had spent together – mostly in secret – Ginny found it was easy to tell when he was really upset. His voice dropped, his fists balled, he got two twin spots of pink on his cheeks marring the paleness of his cheeks. “Dumbledore left it to Harry. You know that. It belongs to Harry and I wanted him to have a chance at it. It might be important! It could end this war.”
She didn’t know if it was the disgust in his eyes or the disappointment that bothered her more.
“Really Ginny? For Potter?” Draco’s lips were twisted into the sneer she was so used to seeing on his face.
“Yes for him. Just the sword. I wasn’t going to package myself up and go along with it!” she snapped back.
“Do I even need to ask how you thought you would get it to him? Getting it out of Snape’s office was just the beginning you know. Did you think he’d just show up on the school doorstep waiting for it? Or were you going to owl it to him?”
“Don’t be an arse,” she muttered. “I don’t know. It just seemed like a good idea.”
“It wasn’t!” He threw his hands up in the air and then folded them over his chest.
“Yeah, got that.”
He pulled her closer and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What were you thinking? Do you know what kind of punishment you would have gotten if someone else had caught you?”
“Or if you hadn’t lied about cursing me?”
“Snape knew I was lying.”
Ginny nodded, leaning her head on his chest. “Yes, he did.”
“You got off easy.” Draco took her by the shoulders and moved her firmly back, staring into her eyes.
“The Forbidden Forest isn’t easy!” She shook her shoulders slightly, trying to get back to her comfortable position. They hadn’t finished in the forest until well after midnight, and Draco had been waiting on the third floor landing when they returned to the castle. After they saw Luna to her dorm, she lied to Neville, telling him she’d be in the Prefect’s bathroom. He had been reluctant to leave her side, but she had finally convinced him that she could make it to the common room just fine.
“You were with that half-blood,” he drawled, letting her fall back into his chest. “You were fine. That’s why Snape sent you there.”
“Don’t call him that,” Ginny said, her voice heavy with sleep.
“Don’t do anything else for Potter.” His voice was low and sharp again, while his fingers traced their way down Ginny’s spine and back up.
She wanted to argue with him, but it was pointless. Harry hadn’t tried to contact her at all. She was at school, and he was out doing… well, whatever he was doing. She couldn’t wait for him forever. “There’s nothing else to do for him.”
“Promise you won’t. You’ll just get into more trouble. I can’t always be there to save you.” His hands were now tangled in the back of her hair, tugging on it ever so slightly, sending breathless chills down her back. She wanted to lean up and kiss him, but didn’t. The few times they had kissed, he had initiated them, and as much as she wanted to, she just wasn’t ready to make the first move. With anyone else, it would have been easy, but Draco wasn’t anyone else. He was difficult, funny, moody, unpredictable Draco.
“I can save myself.”
The slight tug in her hair became a firm one, and she found herself staring up at him.
“I mean it,” he told her.
And then he leaned down and kissed her, and she was no longer tired. Instead she could taste the sweetness of his mouth and felt the fire in the way he kissed her. He kissed her like no one else ever had – or could, she decided – even when she’d tried to create the same fire with Harry. Draco’s kisses made her insides quiver and burn simultaneously. His hands creating a fist in the back of her hair, tugging on it, made her want to throw her clothes off and confess her love for him. Instead, she just kissed back, trying to enjoy the warmth of his body pressed into hers and the feel of his soft mouth and the smell of his faint cologne all at the same time.
**~~**
“Happy Christmas.” Ginny handed Draco the box that she had purposely wrapped in shiny emerald green paper and tied with a silver ribbon.
“What is this?” he asked, and Ginny could tell he was attempting not to look delighted. “You said you weren’t going to get me anything.”
“I wasn’t,” she grinned at him, sprawling across the dusty sofa that sat in the middle of their mostly empty room. Hogwarts had so many empty rooms she wondered how it was that more students didn’t take advantage of them. Or maybe they did and she just didn’t know about it. “But I figured you’d be disappointed if I didn’t.”
Draco looked up at her, his silver eyes locking with her own. “You know me too well, don’t you?”
She wished she had a camera as he yanked the bow off and sent green paper flying in every direction. Colin was the one with the camera and it had come in handy for the holidays.
Draco pulled the silver frame from the box, and she was pleasantly surprised to see an actual smile on his face. She knew that in the picture she was still alternating between smiling sweetly at the viewer and poking fun at Draco for trying to look so serious, all while sitting in his lap.
Colin was one of the few people who knew about the two of them; in fact, he was the only one Ginny could think of who knew they were seeing each other. Colin’s once annoying photography hobby had turned into his obsession and he was damn good at it. He was planning a professional career in photography when he finished at Hogwarts.
The three of them had been lounging in the third floor forbidden corridor; she’d brought Colin along for his photography skills. That day they were reading letters from their families, all full of good and encouraging news – even Draco’s, Ginny decided, if you looked at it in the right way – and eating candies that Fred and George had sent.
“I like this candy,” Draco had told her, “even though I’m not sure I’ll like your brothers.”
“Who says they’ll like you?” Ginny had shot back. “Besides, that candy just turned your hair purple.”
The photo she had framed for Draco was taken right after his hair had returned to its normal shade of white blond.
They had laughed and talked and dreamed in that room for hours, just the three of them, temporarily safe from the war and the Carrow’s and reality.
“It’s perfect,” Draco said looking up from the picture, bringing Ginny back to the present. “Thank you.”
“Welcome,” she said, leaning down to kiss him.
As they kissed, Draco slid a large purple wrapped box out from under a chair. “For you.”
“You said you weren’t going to get me anything!” Ginny looked at the shiny box with dismay. It was at least five times bigger than the box she had given Draco.
“You said the same thing!” He kissed her nose and shoved the box in her lap. “Open it.”
Ginny reluctantly drew back from him. While presents were always nice, she couldn’t imagine anything better than kissing him. Carefully, she peeled back the paper until she could easily lift the top from the box. Inside the box was a shimmering material of dark green. The color reminded her of how the tree tops in the Forbidden Forest looked from the windows in the Gryffindor tower. She pulled it out and discovered it was a cloak. The material was light to the touch, but she could instantly tell that it would be warm. It latched at the neck with a twisted silver clasp, and had similar ones going down the front.
“It’s charmed,” Draco said quietly. “More than charmed, actually.”
“Is it a love potion?” she asked, grinning. “It’s beautiful, but you weren’t supposed to get me anything! All I got you was a picture.”
“In a goblin made silver frame,” he pointed out.
She wasn’t about to tell him that the frame, while it had been a bargain because the shop keeper seemed unaware it was goblin made, had cleaned out her savings.
“Besides, the cloak is more for safety than anything.”
“Safety?” she repeated, rubbing the soft material against her cheek.
Draco nodded. “It’s made to repel a lot of hexes and curses and such. I mean, if the Dark Lord or someone tried to curse you I don’t imagine the cloak would do much good. But these idiots here, if they try again, well, you should be okay. Maybe just some aches and pains, but no more blowing you off your feet or knocking you unconscious.”
Ginny stared at him, unsure of how to properly thank him. Her house had been the subjects of daily assaults, and when she was the victim, Draco went into a rage. She knew he had cursed his housemates in their sleep more than once over it. “Thank you. It’s so beautiful and perfect.”
He nodded curtly. “Wear it.”
“I will.”
“Wear it on the train tomorrow and on the way back to school.”
Ginny nodded. “Okay.”
Draco reached for her and pulled her into his lap.
“I wish I didn’t have to go home for the Holidays.”
“Me too. I want you to stay right here with me.” He kissed her chin, then her lips. “Just me and you.”
He kissed her again and Ginny felt herself melting into him, his lips causing her worries to vanish.
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