Á Deaux

Chapter One: Strangers By Circumstance

Ginny Weasley never understood the hatred of Draco Malfoy, until she met him. So, after years of mutual contempt, when the pair end up on the same course for Defence against the dark arts, away from the influences of family and friends- perhaps they get along better than they gave each other the chance to see? Ginny/Draco.

AN: I've always wanted to see how well Ginny and Draco would get along, because although they hate one another, they never actually interact on their own in the books. Who knows, they might have ended up friends - Or more? Plus, I'm bored of the Dramione stuff, even if it is awesome. I just think they'd be quite sweet together.

Ginny Weasley glared at her mother with contempt. It was just her luck. As Mrs Weasley busied herself packing Ginny's things, the teenager pouted, eating Ron's secret stash of Chocolate frogs.

"Ginny, dear, do help." Molly chided. With a chocolate frog half way to her mouth, Ginny paused, raising an eyebrow at her mother, clearly showing that she thought she was mad. "Oh, do stop sulking about this."

"Shan't." Replied the petite red-head childishly. Molly frowned reproachfully, but Ginny simply left the room to find more sweets to steal from her brothers.

She hopped down the stairs two at a time, and looked around the house for anything she could sabotage to show her protest to being sent away. What was wrong with her family? They were shipping her off to a summer course, as if boarding school wasn't long enough of the year - and that she actually enjoyed. No, what really annoyed her about the situation, was that her boyfriend, Harry, was coming to stay with his best friend, her brother, and she wouldn't be around! She felt sure they had arranged the dates purposely, though Mr and Mrs Weasley fiercely denied anything of the sort - it was their kind of sneaky trick. Harry would be arriving, along with Hermione Granger, their other best friend and Ron's girlfriend, two hours after she left. The fact that it was such a short amount of time made it even worse for her.

Ginny sighed, looking at the kitchen shelves, realising the only thing she could do to annoy her mother. She pulled a low stool over to the counter, climbed onto it , and then mixed up all of Mrs Wealsey's herbs. She frowned, it was pitiful really, but, anything to get back at them.

"This might sound really stupid, but, what are you doing?" Ginny turned to find her youngest brother standing watching her from the kitchen doorway. She bit her lip, she'd been caught.

"You always sound stupid, Ron." she replied, hoping to throw him off and into an argument.

"You've stolen all of my chocolate frogs - tell me what you're doing or you're my slave for a year." Ron told her sternly, she groaned, so he'd known she was eating all of his sweets. She'd have to be more careful.

"Getting back at mum."

"For sending you away?" Ginny nodded, and Ron shrugged.

"Fair enough. Just don't eat my chocolate next time, 'kay?"

"I don't want to go!"

Ron chuckled, "Yeah, the screaming and curses - literally- told us how much you didn't want to go."

"I bit Bill too."

"Nice one." he whistled. She bowed slightly, and pushed her hair out of her face in frustration.

"Why when Harry's gonna be here?"

"I think Mum wants him to have a rest after everything, you know? He'll be here when you get back, Gin - so calm down." Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded.

"I guess."

Ron winked at her, taking a bite from the apple in his hand, and punching her lightly on the shoulder, "Cheer up. Now, go help mum pack so she doesn't murder you - then you'll never see Harry." They both laughed, and Ginny climbed off the stool, trailing her way back up the stairs to her room so she could help her mother pack for her 'doom'

**

So, this was what Dublin was like then? Draco Malfoy thought to himself as he looked around. It didn't seem too bad to him. Looking down at his letter he found the address. He wasn't far from where he was supposed to be from what he could tell, a few streets at most. He shouldered his rucksack, and set off towards the Institute For Higher Magical Learning.

.

When he arrived outside the building, he realised it wasn't hidden from the muggle eye immediately. It obviously also severed as higher learning for muggles, as well as wizarding-stock. The institute was old and solemn, with high glaring windows and a disapproving mouth of an enclave. It rather reminded him of Professor McGonagall if he were honest. Large steps led to the pillared entrance, which he scaled quickly, before taking around look at the place. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he gazed upwards, taking in the steeple roof at one side, and the slanting curves which dominated the other. It was a clash of traditional, hard and guarded, and garishly new-found. He didn't like it much, preferring the traditional edge to the original side. He took a step back and managed to crash into something.

The something yelped in pain, and he quickly put out an arm to catch the person before they fell down the stairs.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" he asked, turning to the poor person he had almost killed. The girl nodded, flicking her hair out of her face, and inspecting him.

"I'm fine, thank-you for catching me."

"Any time…" he trailed off, there was something familiar about that frown; the determined look, the mocking smile…the vibrant red hair. "Oh…darn it." he sighed, just his luck.

"I beg your pardon?" the girl demanded, glaring at him now.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Nice to meet you - glad you're okay. I'll take my leave of you now, have a nice life." Draco made an effort to back away from her, but she gasped.

"It's you!" declared Ginny, pointing an accusatory finger at him, which Draco shook his head to.

"Me? 'Me' who? Of course I'm me, and you're you, and we've never met. Buh-bye."

"Draco Malfoy, what brings you here?"

He blinked, no curse? No screaming? Well, no more screaming? He was startled, she was asking why he was there…not trying to murder him. Now he understood why every guy he knew thought girls were odd.

"I'm doing a course here. You?" he asked, sheepishly.

"Same!"

"Cool…" he shoved his hands in his pockets, and the pair walking through the doors together. Perhaps she was waiting to kill him?

The teenagers trailed through the doors and towards the reception desk, Draco wondering why on Earth she was acting as if it were the most normal thing since cheese and pineapple, or eggs on toast. He couldn't work out why though, after all, he'd been her unspoken enemy for years, and he supposed, indirectly, her older brother had died because of him. Yet, she wasn't showing hatred, just simple fact that they knew one another.

The receptionist requested their letters and they passed them over. She checked the entrance letters were correct, and they were handed two passes for the building. Ginny took hers from Draco and they followed one of the employees through a large glass door to the left.

The room was filled with lifts, and four separate stair cases led off through small panelled doors in each corner.

"Which floor are you on?" Ginny asked in a perfectly friendly manner - which was still causing Draco a brain haemorrhage. He briefly looked at his electronic pass and noted the floor number, then relayed it to the red-head.

"Six."

Ginny smiled, and looked at her own, "I'm on six too." Draco wondered why she was smiling at him about it, what did she want him to do in reaction? Perform a victory dance? Though, he didn't mind that he'd know at least one other person in the course program.

Draco leaned forward and pushed the call button for one of the gold lifts, and turned back to see her still looking at him. Feeling an unexplainable blush creep into his pale cheeks, he decided it better to stare straight ahead of himself. Her staring was embarrassing him.

The silence was awkward, where both of the children searched for something to banish the uneasy feeling between them. They both drew a blank, opening their mouths to speak several times, but then thinking better of it.

A loud chingdeclared the lift present on their floor, and the glimmer doors slid open for them. Draco was so busy trying to work out what was going on that he didn't notice Ginny move to press the number six as he did. Their fingers brushed, causing both of them to jump away from one another as if stung by something particularly nasty. This made them both flush with embarrassment, and Ginny's strange confidence around the Slytherin boy to vanish completely.

They looked at each other suspiciously, as the lift climbed floors at an annoyingly slow pace. Draco and Ginny were completely silent, the only sound in the lift being that of the classic ' lift-music'. If the awkwardness didn't drive them mad, he was certain the music would.

"Which course are you doing?" they asked in unison, causing both to laugh.

"Defence against the dark arts." Ginny chuckled, the atmosphere turning light and friendly once more. "You?"

Draco grinned, "The exact same."

Both were pleased, they'd be able to have someone they knew to talk to - even if they had hated each other since before they had even met.

**

"Sit down!" Barked the Professor, a tall woman with a frown so fierce it scared even the most menacing of the class into immediate silence. She softened her expression and indicated that they became seated.

Ginny sat at the back of the room, playing with a recently developed hang nail, a bored look clearly visible on her pretty face. Draco, however, had taken a chair close to the front, and was sitting quietly, his attention focused, but not quite Hermione-levelled.

She was surprised by his enthusiasm to learn, she had always heard that he never tried in lessons, and simply relied on Snapes high marks. But, when she thought about it, they'd never known what he achieved in his OWLs…just because his father had once said that Hermione did better than him, didn't mean that he hadn't done well. They had just assumed.

The lesson was a short introductory one, where the Professor, whose name was Professor Joy - which Ginny had found rather amusing - had told them what they would be covering, how long each topic would take, and the other subjects they would look into during the course at the HIM (Higher Institute of Magic). Afterwards, Ginny searched for Draco in an effort to not spend lunch alone, because, if she was honest, she was quite scared to be away from home all alone for en entire summer.

The blonde was standing talking to a group of other pupils when she spotted him. He seemed to be popular already, but she didn't recognise any of the students to be from Hogwarts.

"Draco, we've missed you, mate. How's Hogwarts since everything?" a boy with dark brown hair asked him, as he clapped his shoulder. Draco paled, and shrugged.

"I don't know." Ginny stood on the sidelines of the gathering, watching him until he noticed her. He pushed his way past the others and joined the Weasley with a smile.

"Lunch?"

"Please."

He nodded, and they made their way through the school and down to the lunch area.

**

"I have to ask you," Draco began, as he swallowed a piece of sandwich quickly, "Why did you talk to me?"

Ginny frowned and shrugged, "I don't know…I just did. You did save me I guess."

"You didn't hit your head, did you?" he asked wryly.

Chuckling, Ginny shook her head, " I guess, well, I didn't have a go at you because I don't really know you."

"but, you hate me…" he told her, utterly confused.

"No," Ginny frowned, she'd never hated Draco Malfoy, " My brothers hate you, sometimes I think Harry used to hate you, and sometimes Hermione, but, I don't."

"Why not? I mean…don't you blame me?"

Ginny suddenly understood why he had been so incredulous and shook her head. "For Fred's death? No, I don't blame you. I blame the people who influenced your parents, I blame Voldemort. He got his comeuppance eventually, so, it doesn't matter. I miss Fred, but, now that Voldemort is good and dead, I have nothing to hold against anyone. The person at fault is dead themselves."

Draco sighed, "I don't understand how you can say that." he admitted.

"No one can. You're not the only one, believe me."

"But, you know, before all of that, didn't you hate me?"

Biting her lips she shrugged, " Nope, I thought I should because my brother did, but, I've never spoken to you alone have I? So, why should I hate you. Nothing you've ever done to make them hate you, was a personal affront to me."

"Wow, you sure are something."

Ginny winked cheekily, "I'm here all summer."

Draco laughed, and nodded.

"One thing though…" Ginny continued.

"Yes?"

"Where do we stand now?"

Draco frowned, "Anywhere you like."

"Could we be friends, do you think?" she asked slowly, and Draco, taken aback made a noncommittal head movement.

"If that's what you'd like - sure."

She grinned, putting out her hand to him over the table, and putting her sandwich down.

"Let's start again then : Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Ginny Weasley."

Draco smiled, this wasn't the sort of thing he was used to, but he took her hand and shook it.

"A pleasure. Likewise. My name is Draco Malfoy."

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship." she told him seriously.

Draco winked, pretending to flick back his hair as if in a shampoo advert, "With me in it, how could it not be?"

Ginny laughed.

Miles away, at the burrow, a sweeping chill spread over Harry Potter and he looked around. Something bad was happening somewhere. It was his spider's sense. Hermione simply laughed at him when he told her this.