First Year

Draco had it bad. He had spent the better part of his second years focused on a little red headed witch with second hand robes and childish braids. She was a little bit of nothing, common looking with more freckles then she had right to, yet there was something intriguing about her. Almost as if behind the dirt on her innocent face lurked something sinister. For nearly eight months he had watched her and still he could find no answer to the questions she presented.

He knew that he tended to become engrossed in things he could not easily put into a neat little box and so it did not surprise him how often she was in his thoughts. Still he did not like the way she dominated them. Draco was falling farther into this obsession then he had ever been in one before and the need to end it was drumming itself into his brain. The only way he knew of to do so was to sample what delights she might possess. Nothing eased his interest faster than a love struck chit dogging his steps and lisping lies of unending love. And that was always the end result of the Malfoy heir dallying with an unsuitable female.

He had been toying with the idea of what it would be like to bed her since he first saw her standing in Perfect Potter's wake and with the recent decision to take action he set about learning her routine. He had not been as successful as he would have hoped to be, there were hours unaccounted for that not even his best spells could shed light on, but he knew enough to know that she would be passing by this very stairwell in less then ten minuets.

Draco stood in the shadows and waited. It was the fifth time this week that he had done so and he was determined that this time he would succeed. Yesterday she had been surrounded by a group of giggling girls but he was sure today that would not be the case, even though there was no reason for him to think this other than his own unswerving belief that when he wanted something bad enough the world obliged.

His active mind was beginning to become bored and so he pictured her big brown eyes and pert nose as he pressed his back into the cool stones of the wall. His mouth quirked as he tried to pin down just what it was about her that drew him but all he could think of was that bubblegum mouth of hers. His eyes went smoky as he remembered the way she had pressed a blood red nail to her lower lip while deep in thought last Thursday during dinner.

He stiffened as he heard footsteps and groaned as the sound veered off to the left. He was not patient by nature and the last week had been trying in ways he never would have thought possible. There had never been a time in his life before this were what he wanted had not wrapped itself in a bow and gifted itself to him. Yes there had been times when he had to stalk his prey, but as soon as the girl in question recognized his interest the game was over.

If she had followed that pattern he would not be cooling his heals in a remote hallway in hopes of catching her unaware. But she had not. Instead of batting her eyelashes at him when she noticed his stare she would smirk at him as if she knew all his secrets. To make matters worst were her any thing but girlish whispers. Any time he was within ear shot of her she would angle herself so that she was behind him then say in that mocking voice of hers 'what you want belongs to another' then she would laugh and wander away before he could think to reply.

But tonight it would be different. Tonight he would hold her at his mercy and all her cryptic signals would be explained.

He heard footsteps again and knew they were hers. He smiled to himself before shooting his hand into the open and dragging her back with it into the shadows. He pulled her close to him and lost himself in her eyes. Before he knew what he was doing his mouth was on hers and her tongue was wreaking havoc on his senses.

}}

Ginny felt the heat coming off of the boy's body and rational thought slammed back into her brain. Blessed Hell!She thought to herself as she scrambled to break the stranger's embrace. One minuet she had been studying diligently in her room and the next she was in a vaguely familiar hallway being snogged senseless by... well she wasn't all to sure who by.

She felt his arms loosen and jerked away from him. The lighting was so poor that she still could not make out his face. Ginny thought about leaving it well enough alone, just walking away and letting this become yet another foggy memory, but something inside her refused to let her do so. Instead she whipped out her wand and said 'lumos' with a less than confident air. She was rewarded with a string of curses as the small but powerful beam of light temporally blinded her assailant. She bit her lip in confusion as his identify was revealed.

"Draco bloody Malfoy? You have got to be joking." She lowered her wand and snickered softly. "Did you mistake me for someone else then?"

"Pardon?" Draco quickly recovered and hid his embarrassment over her comment by straightening his robes.

"I was just wondering why a paragon of pureblood virtues such as yourself would ruin his track record by kissing a Weasley."

And then she knew. Ginny thought of all the reasons the son of the man who introduced her to Tom might have for kissing her and shuddered. She lowered her eyes in fear to study her nails and the color had graced them since that first terrible message. The dried chicken blood had left stains she couldn't remove and so she had decided to cover up the tell tail markings with a shade that matched them exactly.

Draco saw the fear flash in her eyes and pondered what it could mean. There was defiantly more to this girl then met the eye and he found his intrigue for her growing. He bit out another curse then shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from grabbing her and finding out if a second kiss would be as entrancing as the first had been. He looked her up and down then sneered hoping that his emotions would not show.

"Incapable of speech Malfoy? What a shame. You won't get very far as a Death Eater without being to hurl a good Crucio now will you?"

His eyes flew to her face in astonishment at the causal mocking in her tone. The Unforgivables were not a part of daily conversation in any level of society and were considered one of the strongest taboos in the one she came from. He stared at her for a long moment while his brain tried to make sense of how this information fit with what else he knew about her.

"Well if all you are going to do is leer at me then I had best be on my way. I am sure I had a very good reason for being down here so if you will just excuse me."

She made as if to push past him and Draco reacted without thought. He caught her arm and pulled her back to him. His other arm circled her waist and he watched her eyes darken as his mouth slowly angled itself towards hers. His breath hitched as she parted her lips in what he took as a blatant invitation. Then she spoke and the spell was broken.

"What you want belongs to another."

He pulled back to arm length from her and studied the madness in her eyes. She had said the words with no whisper to mask the harsh sound of it. Her head lolled to one side and the vacant expression on her face made his heart race.

"You know nothing of my wants." He attempted to sound authoritative but failed miserably. The girl in his arms laughed wildly and focused her haunted gazed on him.

"I know more about you than you think child of the Malfoy. I can feel your lust through your hands and see your desire in your eyes. But she is not for you. This body has been marked mine and you have not the power to take it from me."

Draco did not know who was speaking but it was not her.

"I want her." He said forcefully. "What I want I get. I do not let others take what is mine and whoever you are you will not have her for long." He emphasized his words with a sharp shake then he followed up his claim with a dominating kiss. Half way through it he felt her body relax and knew that the spirit which possessed her had left.

"Blessed hell!" Ginny shoved Draco away and shook her head in disgust. "What is it with boys? One minuet I am little old Ginny Weasley barely noticed and happy that way and the next I have boy after boy dragging me into dark corners to kiss me." She glared at Draco and crossed her arms protectively in front of her chest.

"Which other boys have been kissing you Miss. Weasley?"

The question was deadly and Ginny felt herself flinch away from it. His words too closely mirrored the ones that Tom had so softly asked after she dutifully reported her first kiss.

Draco saw her withdraw deep inside herself and puzzled over what could have made her do so. He cupped her chin and raised her frighten eyes to his own. He watched as the panic in them turned to anger and smiled for the first time that day. His grip tightened as he leaned close to whisper in her ear.

"You are mine Weasel." He pulled back to gage her reaction. Whatever he was expecting it was not the carefree laughter that filled the empty hall.

"Yours? Don't be absurd. You should know better than others who I belong to." She placed a mocking smile on her lips before saying "Should I tell you what I told Neville? Would it help if I said I loved someone else?"

"Hero worship does not equate love."

"Are all you boys so very clueless? I don't love Harry. I don't really even like him very much. Before you bring up that singing Valentine why don't you try and think of why I might be so obvious about my so called crush."

Draco just looked at her. He had no idea what she was alluding to. He had seen nothing but the surface of her actions while he watched her mistakenly believing that the girl was as innocent as she appeared.

"Even you cannot be that dense Malfoy. You just talked to him. Remember now?"

"You are in love with the spirit possessing you?"

"Wrong again. Good lord but you are slow. No wonder you don't have yours yet." Ginny sighed and ran a hand through her tangled hair. "I never said I loved him. I said I belong to him. I may not be a willing participant in the game, but then very few of the players are."

"That sounds suspiciously like Death Eater talk Weasel."

"You are even farther out of the loop than I thought. Do you even know who Tom Marvolo Riddle is? Or is that classified knowledge that junior Death Eaters don't learn till they receive their mark?" Her lips twisted into a sardonic smile. "Hell, if I was Voldemort that's how I would run things. Wouldn't want my questionable past to be known by my followers until it was too late for them to change their mind."

Draco did not want to admit that he did not understand half of the things she was talking about and so he decided to go with the typical route. He would sneer at her and demand proof before talking to her about things that good little witches should know nothing about. He opened his mouth to do just that but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Don't try it Malfoy. I know ten times more than most Death Eaters do. You see, I have an inside connection. I don't think that your Daddy realized how very talkative Mr. Riddle is. For the first few months he only told me what I wanted to hear but since December he hasn't so much as stopped for breath. But then I guess he doesn't need to does he."

The bitterness behind the words was undeniable.

Draco narrowed his eyes at her before grabbing her left arm tightly. She laughed as he pushed up her sleeve and examine her arm. He peered at the tender white flesh and felt relief bubble through him when no sign of the dark mark or a spell to hide could be seen. She laughed again and threw back her hair.

"Better wizards than you have been fooled by that arm."

She shook free from his grasp and tugged her wand from her pocket. She pointed it at her bare arm and slowly peeled away layer after layer of complex glamour spells. When she was done it looked like someone had traced the outline of the dark mark into her skin with a blunt quill. The lines were thick but blurry and the greenish black ink shimmered with magic.

"What the hell is that?" Draco said before he thought better of it. "I mean, everyone knows what the dark mark is meant to look like and it isn't that!"

"Everyone you say? I had no idea what one looked like till Tom showed me." Her eyes locked with his for a second then she lowered her head again and ran a finger along the pattern on her arm. "Besides, I did not except the mark willingly. He placed it on me. The more I used the book the darker it got. When I finally understood what was going on I tossed the thrice damned thing into the loo. But Harry couldn't leave well enough alone now could he. Prat."

Draco choked on his laughter and ended up sputtering indignantly. Ginny huffed then thought better of being angry and joined him in his mirth.

"I guess when you think about it it is pretty amusing. I don't even want to know why he was in the girl's lav to start with."

"Yet another reason to love you little Weasel."

He knew it was the wrong thing to say the second it left his mouth. He saw her bristle, the companionship of the last few minuets a thing of the past.

"Don't be a fool Malfoy. I told you I belong to him and his plans for me don't involve being alive to see the next term."

She pointed her wand at her arm again and murmured something to soft for him to hear. Within seconds her arm was flawless and she rolled her sleeve back down. She stepped away from him and shivered slightly.

"I won't pretend like I know what is going on with you Weasel but I want you to know that I am here for you to talk to. If you make it to next year or not will depend on how well you plan. The future is not predetermined girl. Remember that." He reached out and tugged on a curl.

She smiled up at him then leaned in and quickly kissed him. She licked her lips as she pulled back. Then she was gone.

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Draco slumped against the wall staring at the spot she had stood in only moments before. He was a strong man and strong men could admit when they were wrong. He should never have taken the next step. He should have let his desire to touch her go unfulfilled and let everything about her remain a mystery. But he hadn't and now he was even more tangled in the web that was Ginny Weasley.