Forbidden Fruit
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling doesn't seem to fully appreciate the wonder that is Draco, so I thought she wouldn't mind my stealing him for a bit.
Special thanks to the greatest friend in the world, you know who you are, for dragging me kicking and screaming into this fic. I'm having the time of my life!
Chapter One:
It was subtle. Very subtle. But Ginny Weasley had trained her own eyes to notice. She smiled to herself and lifted her glass just the smallest amount in acknowledgement. They would meet. Tonight. She touched the cup to her lips, partially covering her face so that she could steal one tiny glimpse of him. Her own forbidden fruit. Forbidden fruit was the sweetest, she'd decided. His sharp pink tongue flicked quickly out to brush his upper lip, and she stifled the groan that rose in the back of her throat. She giggled softly to hide it and was lucky when someone around her had obviously said something funny, making the sound less noticeable to her peers. With a quick, yet somewhat evil looking wink, his attention was once again from her. Finally she felt as if she could breathe normally again. How did he do that to her with one simple movement? She smirked, a trait learned from countless hours of watching him; she knew how. She knew very well.
"Ginny?" Hermione's voice sounded somewhat annoyed, as Ginny finally looked up. "I asked if you wanted help with your Arithmancy tonight."
Tonight. There was no way she would be doing Arithmancy tonight. Oh no. She smiled that sweet, angelic smile that had kept her out of way more trouble at home than she liked to admit and shook her head. "No thanks, Hermione. I reckon I understand it for now. Honestly, I may just lock myself up behind my bed curtains and catch up on some reading." There. The groundwork was laid for her alibi. She wondered, sometimes, how she hadn't been sorted into the Slytherin house. Wouldn't that have been a great surprise to the entire Weasley clan!
The day wore on, heat and anxiety making Ginny's patience wear thinner and thinner, until she thought surely she would burst. All of this for a simple late night snogging session with the campus ass, she admonished herself silently. But she knew better. Something deep inside of her was glowing, red hot, telling her that tonight could very well be different. She was ready. He'd been ready for quite a long time, and tonight, even if she didn't know it yet, she was too. She sat in her last class of the day, knowing that any minute she would receive the notice she'd awaited all day. As if he could read her mind, and lately she wasn't all together sure that he couldn't, the parchment appeared in her lap, folded neatly. Of course it was folded neatly; had he ever done anything halfway? Again, she had to stifle the groan as her mind wandered the wrong direction at such a simple statement. Carefully, she opened the parchment, being certain not a sound was heard or a glimpse caught by the rest of the students.
Ginny,
I saw you caught my message this morning. You should really be more careful. Your face gives you away like the pages of a book.
She rolled her eyes; leave it to him to be pompous even in script.
Same time. New place. The North Tower is far too obvious. Meet me by the Quidditch locker rooms.
As always, there was no signature, and the parchment evaporated without a trace as soon as she was done reading.
She could hardly sit through dinner. There was something about stew that seemed dull compared to the rest of her night; it was unfair that she had to endure it. She glanced over to her left, out of pure instinct, and found Ron's eyes glued to her. "You looked as if you were off in another world, Ginny."
I was, she thought, but smiled sweetly instead. Sometimes, she didn't know what came over her. Maybe it was the constant lack of attention she'd always felt. Being the youngest child and only girl growing up, there wasn't much of her parents' attention to go around. By the time they'd finished properly punishing all of the boys, she was usually left to her own means of finding entertainment. She'd thought that would end once she'd got to Hogwarts. How could it not? There were so many people here; she was sure there would be some that would like her, regardless of her brother.
Ginny giggled as she saw Luna Lovegood wander into the room. She meandered all the way around the Slytherin table and finally found her own seat. She sat but only briefly. Standing again, Luna passed the Hufflepuffs and Ginny watched as the girl came to a halt directly beside her. She looked up expectantly only to find Luna didn't seem to notice where she'd stopped. "I bet the sunset will be pretty tonight." She gave a dreamy sigh before turning and wandering back to her own table, as senselessly as she'd come.
Ginny heard her name being called again and turned her head to the side, all previous thoughts racing from her mind. They had to. If anyone ever suspected... She shook the thought from her head and looked up to see Harry this time. Why was everyone bothering her today? "Yes?"
"Will you be coming to Quidditch practice tonight?"
She thought she heard a hopeful tone to his voice and almost burst into laughter. He answered what must have been an amused look on her face with a confused one of his own. Again, she did her best to put on her angelic smile. "I'm sorry, Harry. I do so love to watch you play, but I've got a date tonight."
She watched as he sputtered and coughed his apology. That'll teach him to ignore me for months on end, she thought, but then the repercussions of her words hit her, full force.
"A date?" It was Ron, as she should have suspected. "Who with? Colin? Neville?"
Draco Malfoy. She wanted to scream it, just once. She wanted to see his reaction. But she knew better. "With my books," she laughed, "weren't you two listening when I was talking to Hermione not two minutes ago?" They both looked appeased, for now. Though it galled her to no end to have to lie to them about something that should have been her choice, she knew it was for the best and let it go.
~*~
Draco sat back in his usual chair, watching the orange and blue flames crackle in the fireplace. Tonight. It wasn't an earth shattering thought to know he'd be with a girl; after all, she wouldn't be his first. But she would be his most worthwhile conquest. First of all, he thought to himself, she was a Weasley, only daughter of his father's biggest enemy. Second, she was Ron's baby sister. Overprotective Ron's baby sister. Wouldn't that be sweet? Then, there was the best reason of all; she wanted him as much as he wanted her. This fact alone was going to make tonight great. There wasn't pretense of some random girl liking him for his money, or his power, or his good looks... well, maybe that. But Ginny didn't care about any of that. Draco liked that. He could be a pretentious prick, and she'd laugh at him. He could let down his guard and be the bumbling mess that most boys his age were, and she'd keep his secret. She was Ginny. He couldn't help but wonder why any more of those idiotic Gryffindors hadn't seen her, but he had to admit he was glad.
He looked up to see two familiar-looking first years staring at him from across the room. With a smirk, he raised his wand, ever so slightly, and whispered, "Locomotor Mortis," then laughed as the younger students began to hop around, looking more confused than they had. As if that were possible.
He glanced up to the clock sitting superiorly above the mantel on the wall and slowly rose from the chair. He saw Crabbe and Goyle stand with him and quickly waved them off. "Stay." Any other person would have been offended; they didn't even seem to notice as they sat back down, looking stupidly at the chess set between them. Ten minutes. He had ten minutes to get to the Quidditch field and into the Slytherin locker room before the Gryffindors would show up for practice. No problem, not for Draco Malfoy.
~*~
Ginny closed her books and peaked out from behind the closed bed curtains, giving herself a small congratulatory smile. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect. Maybe Draco was rubbing off on her a little too much... She shook the thought from her head and stepped up to the full length mirror.
The mirror smiled back at her, sensing her excitement. "It's a big day, isn't it, Ginny?" A small pink blush rose in Ginny's cheeks, as she smoothed out her hair and splashed a small amount of water over her face. "Who's the lucky boy?" the mirror asked, without shame.
Ginny guessed that shame wasn't something taught in mirror school, or wherever these things came from. She looked around sheepishly before looking back to her reflection. "Someone that no one would ever guess."
The mirror stared back at her, caught somewhere between amusement and annoyance. "You can't hide anything from me, girl. I already know."
"How?" Ginny gasped, before she could catch herself. Her blush grew deeper.
The mirror laughed, "Ginny, Ginny, Ginny. You should study those books as often as you claim you do. Mirrors know everything. We not only reflect your physical image, but also your psychological image. Your inner self. I know things about you even Ron doesn't know."
Ginny let out a snort and turned away. "That's not hard. Ron doesn't know much about me."
"You give yourself too much credit, my dear. Ron knows much more about you than you want to admit. Or even more than he wants to admit."
Ginny whirled around, once more to face the mirror, with fire in her eyes this time. "What would you know? You've never even spoken with him. He ignores me. He goes off with Harry and Hermione, but am I ever invited? He used to be my best friend, when we were at home."
A faint grandmotherly clucking noise came from the mirror and Ginny swore if it were possible for a mirror to roll its eyes, that's what her mirror was doing. "You're right, my dear. I've never spoken a word to Ron. But I've already told you I can see your inner self, and what does that say for him if he was your best friend growing up?" The mirror waited until it got nothing but a confused look from Ginny to continue. "It means I know him as well as you know him. And deep down, you know he cares."
The clock tower rang out, signaling she was late, and Ginny tossed on her cloak, without another look at the mirror. "I'm late," she threw over her shoulder, walking out with quick, deliberate steps into the crisp evening air.
~*~
Draco sat in the dark, silently cursing women in general. What time did he have to tell her before she'd get here on time? Maybe next time he'd tell her to be here fifteen minutes before he planned to show up. Angrily, he pointed his wand towards a beetle crawling across the Slytherin locker room and hissed, "Wingardium Leviosa." The beetle lifted from the ground and suspended midair. Draco watched, greatly amused, as the bug's tiny legs seemed to keep running while the tiny creature got nowhere. An almost silent creak from the door turned his attention behind him, his wand in tow.
Ginny rolled her eyes, a smirk covering her lips. "You wouldn't use that on me."
"Oh, I wouldn't?" Draco asked, lifting it a little higher. "What makes you so sure?"
With record speed, Ginny had her wand aimed right back at him. "Because you won't," came her even reply.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Draco let out a rare laugh as Ginny became the object of his incantation and was lifted into the air.
"Draco!" she squealed. "Put me down, or I'll..."
"You'll what?" His mood was lightening with every passing second.
"I'll… I'll... Petrificus Totalus!" She dropped to the ground with a loud thud and rolled over, amusement in her eyes as she saw the surprised look frozen on Draco's face as he tumbled over solidly to the ground. She picked herself up and dusted off her robes before kneeling beside him and briefly brushing her lips across his. "You know, I reckon I like you like this." She laughed, then leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "Finite Incantatum."
His arms were instantly around her waist, pulling her down across his body. "I can't believe you did that!"
Ginny smiled innocently. "Did what? I didn't do anything."
Shaking his head, Draco smirked. "You just wanted closer to me, Weasley." She only replied with a shrug and a smirk of her own. "Say it, Weasley. I want to hear you tell me how much you wanted to be near me." It had started as a joke, but somewhere along the way, Draco's throat had gone dry, and his voice had dropped to almost a low moan. Maybe it was her brown eyes locked to his, maybe it was her fingers already nimbly tugging at his robes, maybe it was his own reaction to being this close to her, to smelling her, to feeling her.
"Don't fool yourself, Malfoy." Such strong words, Ginny thought, considering she had already almost fully undressed him.
Draco looked down with surprise as she finished with his shirt and began to work on his trousers. "Ginny? What are you doing?" He was met with a brief gaze and quick flick of her tongue over her bottom lip, although he couldn't decide whether it was a nervous flick or just outright sexy, before she returned to her work. "Ginny?" he repeated, "Are you...?" He was suddenly too nervous to say it. She was!
She swallowed the lump forming in her throat, as she pulled his trousers off and discarded them. She started at his feet and slowly massaged her way up his legs to his chest, and every sculpted muscle she found. His arms, his neck, his shoulders, nothing was sacred from her attack. She smiled to herself, when she finally felt him relax under her fingers and lay back again with one hand pillowing his head from the ground. She glanced up and found his eyes watching every move she was making. Purposely, she kept her eyes on his, as she leaned forward and slowly began to increase the assault, using her lips as a primary assault weapon and changing her hands to her backup, only using them to cover the skin her lips couldn't reach. He was groaning, and she thought the noises sounded like good ones. She couldn't be sure. Suddenly, she felt his free hand slide through her hair and pull gently on her head, begging her without words to look back at him. No, not look at him; that hand wanted her to come back with it. Back up to meet his lips, and she had no arguments.
Somehow, within the brief, passion-filled moments that followed, Ginny found herself bare and feeling every one of Draco's muscles rippling over her as she lay beneath him. This was it. If she was going to change her mind, she had to do it now. Even in thinking so, she knew she didn't want to. Her hands urged him on, massaging, holding, tearing at his bare back as he simulated movements that were soon to be real. "Draco…" she whispered, biting at his shoulder.
"Have you ever...?" His eyes met hers in a search for truth, then closed briefly when they saw the gentle shake of her head. He balanced on one elbow as he ran the other hand through his hair, then through hers. "I'll be gentle," he promised.
Her heart swelled, as she gasped for a breath and caught his scent more thoroughly. She shook her head, "No. Just be you. I want this with you, not with some...."
"Gryffindor wanker?" he supplied, smiling down on her.
She laughed softly. "Not exactly what I was thinking, but you're about as far from that as they come, I suppose."
He nodded, happy with the answer as he sunk into her, pausing for a moment to kiss her tears away, something he'd never cared to do before. It scared him, but the truth in her deep brown eyes when she opened them and met his gray ones eased his mind.
~*~
Ginny gasped for air as she felt Draco's heart beat wildly against her. He'd collapsed, still between her legs, and his chest resting in just the right place so that the rhythmic beating seemed to be doing something for her she hadn't thought possible. She'd thought she was completely satiated, she was wrong. Her hands were buried into his silvery soft locks, which for once looked as if they'd been through hell. She smiled to herself; they had. She listened; his breathing was starting to slow and even out, just a little. "I should go. Practice won't last much longer."
He looked up at her, never lifting his head, and nodded. "You go first. I don't think I can walk yet."
Ginny laughed. "You're going to have to get off of me and let me get dressed then." Was that a blush? On Draco Malfoy? Ginny was almost certain but knew better than to point it out. She waited on him to roll and swiftly dressed. She knelt back down and kissed him once more. "Until next time," she whispered.
He smirked. "Who says there will be a next time? I've already had my way with you, woman."
Rolling her eyes, Ginny went to the door before turning back to him, returning his evil smirk. "There will be. I'm not the other girls you've been with."
The smirk turned genuine to both of them, as she walked out the door and heard the faint whisper from his lips, "No, no you're not."