Chapter 7- Slip on Slide
When they reached the portrait, Ginny turned to Draco. "Do you mind?" Draco simply shrugged and turned around. "Wizards Chess," Ginny whispered to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open and Ginny gave Draco's robe a tug, telling him he could turn around.
"Wait out here for me, all right, Malfoy?"
"No way, Weasley. How do I know you won't go in there and never come out? I'm coming with you."
Ginny sighed. "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this one, am I?"
"Nope."
"Not even if I give you my word that I will bring you the money?"
"No. I've never trusted the word of a Weasley before, why should I start now? I'm coming with you."
Ginny sighed again and beckoned for Draco to go inside the portrait hole.
"Be careful, child," the Fat Lady advised, oblivious to the prior conversation. "Don't do anything you may regret later."
"Oh, don't worry, you fat bitch," Draco said with a smirk. "We're always careful." With that, he disappeared into the Common Room."
Ginny followed and closed the opening, but still heard the Fat Lady mumble, "Humph. Slytherins!"
Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head, thinking just how right the Fat Lady was. When Ginny looked to Draco, he was scanning the room with a look of disgust on his face. He was receiving looks from disgusted faces as well. The Slytherin emblem on his shirt clearly marked him as the enemy and everyone in the Gryffindor common room was wondering why their hated enemy was in their private sanctuary. Moreover, the sixth years present were wondering why Draco Malfoy of all people was there. Lavender and Parvati looked shocked and Seamus looked murderous.
"Merlin, Weasley!" Draco exclaimed. "How do you live here? It's so bright, and that red, what an awful shade of red! Well, I guess anything's better than that shack you live in, right?"
That was the first crack Draco had made at the Weasley's finances all day, which hit Ginny as somewhat of a shock. Their wealth, or lack thereof, seemed to always be the butt of Draco's jokes.
"Well, Malfoy," Ginny said, quickly recovering from her momentary shock with a witty comeback, "just remember, home is where the heart is. My heart is at home, but your heart seems to have come out your rear and flushed down the loo. What a wonderful place your home is!" The Gryffindors nearby snickered at Ginny's remark and a triumphant smile crossed her lips.
"Just get me my money," Draco spat out, staring daggers at Ginny. "Unless, that is, you don't have it. But I shouldn't be surprised. You are a Weasley after all.
Ginny glared at Draco and headed for the stairs. She was about half way up when Draco started up after her. He had only taken two steps before the stairway turned into a slick slide and he lost his footing and dropped to his knees on the common room floor. He stared at the former staircase wide eyed. Not because of his amazement at what had just happened, but because Ginny was coming down the slide towards him, screaming.
Draco had just enough time to get out of the way before Ginny landed hard on the floor, back up, where Draco was only moments before. She seemed to have had the wind knocked out of her, because it was a few seconds before she issued another sound, breaking the silence of the common room. When Ginny had screamed, everyone turned and saw her come sliding down the stairs and they were all now staring at her unmoving body in shock. Ginny groaned and rolled over onto her back, moaning in pain.
Seamus was the first one to react. "You all right, Gin?"
In response, Ginny grabbed her ankle with repeated shouts of, "Oh, bugger!" Seamus rushed over to her and took Ginny's ankle in his hand.
"Damn, Finnigan! Trying to kill me?" Ginny was trying her hardest not to cry, but the pain from her ankle was intense.
"No, Gin, just trying to find out what the problem is. Damn, if I'd only paid attention in that class Dad had me take. Then I'd know if this was a sprain or a break and I'd know how to treat it. If only there hadn't been a Quidditch match that night!"
"Oh, shove over, halfblood!" Draco stomped over to the two and took Ginny's ankle in his hand. "Tell me if this hurts," he said and lightly poked Ginny's ankle bone.
"AH! Yes, that hurts! Bloody hell, Malfoy!"
"It's broken," Draco said calmly. "You might want to get her to hospital wing to get that fixed up."
Seamus blinked a few times before getting over the fact that a Malfoy had just helped a Gryffindor, let alone a Weasley. "Uh, right," he managed to get out. Seamus crouched next to Ginny and tried to lift her, but couldn't.
"You really are thick, aren't you?" Draco asked in an amused tone.
"All right, you try to pick her up." Seamus stood and crossed his arms, ready to watch the present spectacle.
"Now why would I try to do that?"
"You mean you're not going to help her?" Seamus was dumbfounded. "She may be a Weasley, Malfoy, but Ginny is a person, and people sometimes need help, even from Malfoys."
"Uhm, Seamus, I'm right here you know." The two males looked down and saw the youngest Weasley, still lying on the ground. Her arms were crossed over her chest, but she was still wincing from the pain her ankle was causing her.
"Sorry, Gin, but this git is being a smart arse and won't help me lift you."
"Who said anything about lifting her?" Draco asked.
"Ok, Mr. Know-it-all, how do you plan to get Ginny here to the Hospital Wing?" Seamus had his arms crossed again, ready to be amused.
"Like this." Draco took out his wand and pointing it at Ginny, muttered something under his breath. Seamus closed his eyes, fearing that when he opened them, Ginny would be a pile of ashes. When no one in the Common Room gasped, Seamus opened his eyes to see Ginny still lying on the floor, now with a stretcher under her. Draco caught Seamus's eye and shook his head.
"Locomoter Ginny," Draco said, doing the swish-and-flick wand movements that would make the stretcher levitate so that he could take Ginny to Madam Pomfrey. Keeping Ginny out in front of him, he directed her towards the portrait entrance.
"Wait!" Seamus called after them. "I'm coming with you. I don't trust you alone with her, Malfoy."
"Whatever you say, Finnigan," Draco replied. "Now, open the bloody portrait before I decide to drop her."
Seamus did as he was told, and Draco levitated Ginny out of the common room, headed for the Hospital Wing.
"Oh goodness! What seems to be the problem here?" Madame Pomfrey had just turned away from an abnormally large birdcage with a small yellow canary sitting on the bottom, chirping loudly.
"I fell down the stairs once they turned into a slide," Ginny replied, lifting her head.
"I'm sorry I don't understand dear, but you can explain once you're fixed up. Stretcher this way, Mr. Malfoy!" Madame Pomfrey led them to a bed at the end of the isle and had Draco put the stretcher on it before waving his wand and having the stretcher disappear.
"Her ankle's broken," Draco said simply before sitting down in a chair next to the bed. "She was going up the stairs to her room and Finnigan was following after her because she forgot her quill and when he stepped on the staircase, she tried to step on a stair that wasn't there and fell. I was lucky enough to find Finnigan carrying Weasley this way and was able to conjure up a stretcher to get her here faster."
"I am sure Miss Weasley is very thankful for your kind actions, Mr. Malfoy." Madame Pomfrey had not even looked up from examining Ginny's ankle. "If you will please excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back with a potion that will have Miss Weasley better in a second." Madame Pomfrey walked to her office, leaving the three alone.
"Where'd that story come from, Malfoy?" Seamus asked.
"Well, I couldn't exactly tell her it was I who stepped on the stairs and caused Ginny to fall. She would ask why I was in the Gryffindor common room. This way, there are no questionable actions and no one gets in trouble."
"Thanks, Malfoy," Ginny said through clenched teeth. She was still in unimaginable pain. Draco simply nodded.
There was a loud popping sound from the large birdcage that caused all three of them to look in that direction.
"Ginevra Molly Weasley, you have a lot of explaining to do!" Ron was practically fuming.
Author notes: Many many thanks to Sleepless, lilactree, ginnywitch, and SniperTeamTango for their reviews! I'm in a new job and getting used to the hours still. My apologies.
To Be Continued.
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