Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm trying to get creative ideas as I write, but everything that comes is out cliché and trite. (Oh…rhyme. Lol.) Also...discouraged by the lack of reviews. I had originally put some horizontal rules between sections, but that didn't show up in this story. OO I'm sorry about that.
Disclaimer: No ownage. Etc.
Chapter Five: Twisted Logic
"Ok team, this is it," said Ron with an unconvincing manner, attempting to mimic Oliver Wood's impassioned speeches. "This is my last year here and…erm…let's make it good?" he squeaked slightly.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "What my brother, the git, is trying to say is that he wants us to make him proud. Let's stand united as the Gryffindor Quidditch team and fight to win!"
"But we don't have Harry anymore," a nearby voice called out, "how will we win?"
"Never mind that we don't have Harry!" Ginny retorted "We've practiced hard for this and we deserve to beat Ravenclaw now, and win the House Cup later!"
The team echoed Ginny's words with a hollow "yeah" and sluggishly walked out of the locker room into the pitch. The sea of red and gold cheered raucously, but the discouraged team seemed unfazed.
"Well, let's go, then," said Ginny to Madam Hooch, as the 14 players mounted their brooms and kicked off at the starting whistle.
After a spectacular loss, Ginny was irritated and ready to take a nap before dinner. But not without a shower.
I smell absolutely disgusting. She sniffed her arm and shook her head. I think I'll use the prefect's bathroom.
Heading up the second floor staircase to the statue of Barnabus the Barmy, she stopped for no one and took no mind to the passing—and sneering—Ravenclaws. Instead, she muttered "clean stockings" to the peculiar-looking, one-eyed wizard and entered the bathroom. She quickly shed her clothes, donned a fleecy towel from an aluminum rack next to the bathtub, and began to fill it with water and bubbles of all shapes and sizes.
After filling the tub, she gingerly stepped inside and let the hot water envelope her body as she recounted the events of match in her head. It's not the same without Harry, she thought, sighing, everyone can feel it. Really, nothing's the same. Sure, Ginny saw him every day, but not in the same context as she was used to—no more holding hands in the hallway, snogging between classes, or even talking leisurely in the Great Hall or at the Three Broomsticks. "It's like I don't even have a boyfriend anymore," she said aloud, unintentionally.
"You don't have a boyfriend anymore?" drawled a sleek, smooth voice. "Excellent, now I can continue having dirty dreams about you without feeling too badly."
Oh…bollocks! When did Malfoy get here? "Malfoy, what are you doing in here?! Can't you see I'm having a bath?" Ginny said crossly, her face a beet-red color that rivaled only her hair.
"I've been in here for fifteen minutes, Weaselette. You didn't notice?" he snickered, looking at her flushed cheeks. "Not that I minded, of course. I got a pretty good view of your knockers when you were scrubbing your underarms." He knew this would make her go mad.
And sure enough, the sparks began to fly.
"MALFOY, HOW DARE YOU VIOLATE ME LIKE THAT, YOU GREAT PRAT? GET OUT OF HERE NOW, BEFORE I HEX YOU INTO OBLIVION!"
Ginny, sputtering and fuming, pulled a towel on herself while she scrambled out of the bath.
"Hmm, but that's the problem, see? I don't want to get out. And, last time I checked, you were not a prefect, so you shouldn't know the password, let alone be here at all," continued Malfoy, making Ginny angrier than she thought possible. "And why would I deprive myself of such…pleasures, and for free?"
"Malfoy…you little bast—Hang on, you're not a prefect, either. So you shouldn't be here. McGonagall would love to know that you've been skulking around the hallways during lunch, came into the Prefect's bathroom without permission, and have been watching a girl take a bath for the past quarter-hour," she said triumphantly, expecting to see his face fall with anxiety.
"Oh, but you'd have to tell McGonagall how you knew I was here. And you were talking, right? So I could only assume it was directed at me, therefore implying that you knew I was here."
"Ugh, Malfoy, you make me sick," she snapped, and stalked off.
"By the way, Little Red, they were really very nice!" Draco called after her.
Ginny scowled, glaring at him evilly.
"Malfoy saw you WHERE?" Harry bellowed, sending a few small birds flying out of the tree that he and Ginny were seated under.
"Well, it's not exactly like I asked him to, Harry," Ginny answered irritably, "So don't act as though this is my fault."
"You're right, I'm sorry." He drew a large breath in, and sighed heavily as he exhaled. "It's just been a stressful few weeks; I get worked up about everything." Harry began to pull Ginny toward him, stroking her hair and lightly kissing her forehead.
Ginny pulled away from him quickly and a little harshly. "Harry, I don't know if I can keep doing this."
"Doing what?"
"This. I mean, never spending any time together, constantly fighting because you're annoyed by your students or by the jobs McGonagall makes you do, and then making up two seconds later because you apologize and we snog. It's not a healthy relationship."
"Gin, please don't. It's true we aren't together that often, but I'll make it up to you."
"When, Harry? When you're marking papers, or searching for Horcruxes, or patrolling hallways? You have no time, Harry, and I don't know if we can 'make it up' to each other at all."
He shook his head and looked at the earth before him, pulling bits of grass and root from the ground and shredding them with his fingers, absentmindedly. "Ginny, please give me another chance. I promise I'll be a better boyfriend. It's just—well—I don't know how to explain it, Gin, I can't handle things anymore."
"I realize you're busy, Harry, I don't want to be wasting your time and mine." Ginny checked her watch and beckoned Harry to leave with her. "It's nearly 7, everyone's probably going to the Great Hall for dinner already."
"7? Er…Ginny…go on without me. I promised some first years that I would help them study for their exam next week," he paused. "I'll be in my classroom, though, if you want to visit after dinner," he said lightly, giving her a small peck and jogging toward the castle.
"And this is exactly what I mean," said Ginny regretfully, to no one in particular. "I suppose I should eat something, then." She walked slowly to the Great Hall, as the sun waned and disappeared behind the Forbidden Forest.
"Looks like there's trouble in paradise," Blaise Zabini chuckled. He ran a hand through his thick, black hair and smirked at Draco Malfoy, who was lazily sprawled on a bed in their shared dormitory.
Blaise, who was hidden right behind the Harry-Ginny tree during their entire spat, didn't waste a moment in telling Draco the events of that day.
"What are you so happy for, idiot? We're betting against each other, remember?" Draco replied, snarkily.
"Yes, but anything hurting Harry Potter is helping little Blaisey." He sat down on his study desk and smiled dreamily.
"I really wish you would stop referring to yourself as 'little Blaisey.' It's not attractive at all," said Draco nastily, as Blaise shot him a filthy look.
"But you might be right, my sexually-misguided friend. This could be a wonderful little development for me," he added.
Blaise, who looked mock-hurt only seconds before, cocked his head with interest. "What do you have in mind, Mr. Malfoy?"
Draco sat up and thought for a few moments, tracing his fingers around his clean-shaven chin. "Hmm, phase one of the plan," he mused. "Friends first."
"Friends? Why the bloody hell would you do that?" Blaise nearly fell off of the chair in surprise.
Draco sniggered and opened his mouth slowly, pausing to grin first. "Trust, my boy, is the key to any relationship. And a good fuck. If we're friends, she'll trust me. And if she trusts me, she'll be vulnerable. Then, I'll have the perfect chance to…er…make my mark, let's say."
Draco was confident. And when Draco was confident, he usually had reason to be. The Weaselette would be putty in his hands, and he wouldn't even have to work for it.
Author's Note: Sorry, again. This was mainly just a filler chapter for me to really focus on the plot structure and what I was going to do about the rather…irregular circumstances. Expect a longer and more elaborate chapter next time, because you deserve that /.
Next time, on Square One:
We'll find out if…
-Ginny did visit Harry after dinner, or if she took a little detour
-The beginnings of Draco's plans
-More quidditch! When I figure out how to write about a match properly.
-Why exactly Draco is at Hogwarts (I know, this seems like a plot hole, but it'll turn into something good)
-Harry's students…or maybe more…
Anyway, please review! And thanks for reading.
-Brin