Title: Here's To The Fire
Author: Kimmie ([email protected])
Archive: fanfiction.net (tasukichiriko), Looking Glass Factor.
Category: het, fluff, POV
Pairings: Draco/Ginny
Disclaimer: The characters in this story are mine only in spirit and voice. Their "likenesses", names, categorizing features, favourite activities (other than the randiness I like to make them engage in), studies, teachers, friends, acquaintances, etc., etc., belong to J.K. Rowling and not me.
Rating: PG.
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: None.
Notes: So... for all that I write slash, Ron/Hermione and Draco/Ginny are two of my favorite pairings. Well, Aspen wrote a Ron/Hermione ("Spilling Secrets") which I think is wonderful. And, I knew I wanted to write some HP het, too, so Draco/Ginny it ended up being for no other reason than that I got an idea for it. Yes, this is a story where Draco thinks of Ginny like a fire, much like a lot of other fics, but I took the metaphor and extended it. I hope you all enjoy this. Draco POV.

I wish she wasn't a Weasley like them. But she is.

There is a girl named Ginny, just a year or two younger than me, who has red hair and freckles and she is stubborn. She is a Weasley, wrapped in packaging that my father says I must hate. But, her packaging, in all that I didn't want to buy that brand, has that one color that draws all buyers in the market: red. Perhaps it's disheartening that it's the colors of fire that make everyone want a particular thing, but she is fire. She's warm and impulsive and can get out of control so quickly.

Everyone always said I was a pyromaniac. They were right, of course, but I think I've found a fire that will never burn out. Not to say she won't burn me, because you can't touch fire without getting burned, but if I can get close enough... Well, you don't have to touch the flames to feel the warmth.

I want to be romantic and sweep her from her fireplace to show her the torch I carry that burns with her. I want to have secret meetings with her in secret places where we have to burn low so no one sees the flickering light we'd give off together. I want to marry her and say, "Well, you're not a Weasley anymore. I suppose I can tell my father now." But, I'd just as much rather tell my father I was going to step into the fire and burn myself, never bothering to use a Flame Freezing spell. I'd just as much rather break my wand in half and give her half and say, "Here. Burn this. I'm going to go live as a Muggle if you don't fall in love with me." I'd rather just be with her.

Over the years here at Hogwarts, she's grown closer to that little group of the school hero, the school brain, and her brother, the school moron. I suppose they're Potter's consciences, but they treat her like a tag-along. That may be all she is, but as she gets closer to them, they get closer together and she's still on the outside looking in. How anyone can overlook her, I'll never know. Because, I've tried.

I've tried to give the Great Hall a glance in the morning without seeing her, but I can spot her within seconds even if I deliberately try to pass her by with my eyes. Even when she's only dying embers, she enflames me and I feed her fire.

I don't suppose it's good that I can't be civil to her. It's hard, though. I like her when she's vibrant and angry and destructive, and she gets that way in my presence, but I don't want her like that *because* of me. I want her like that *for* me.

Ginny Malfoy. It's a name like fire and ice, but they work together so well to get something peaceful. Here's hoping my father never knows I like things peaceful sometimes. I'll get nothing but destruction all the time instead. I get enough destruction when I'm around an angry Ginny. She'll storm about and slam things down and glare at everyone. It's so adorable. She'll positively simper and go out when she's around Potter, though. She freezes in his presence, and she burns so beautifully in mine. But, Potter's a fool. He doesn't know how good it is to be near the fire. He's never learned and he won't. He doesn't even know the danger of being burned. Who would ever burn Famous Harry Potter? I'd try, but it wouldn't work, most obviously. Ginny could burn him if she tried, but her flames just don't thrive in his atmosphere.

In order to burn, things need oxygen in their environment... a breath of fresh air. I can be a breath of fresh air. I can feed her fire until all we are is just a single flame that won't ever burn out.

Of course, at the moment, I have one big problem. How do I get the fire to notice me? Oh, she *notices* me, and she licks her flames along my skin and she makes me crackle and sizzle and pop like a freshly cut piece of pine, but I want to be the only thing in her campfire ring; the only thing she'll burn. I want her fire to be mine, and my fuel to be hers.

Potter, perhaps, is just a strong wind. He keeps putting her out and she's just trying to right herself and *that's* why she leans toward him. And I just build her up again. It's not impossible to find shelter from the wind, just improbable. I hope things turn to possible and probable soon.

Here's to the fire and the downfall of the wind.

End Transmission.