A/N: Again, I am having a really hard time writing this story. To say this chapter was a "bitch" would be a serious understatement. I had half a mind to abandon it but I decided that I am not a quitter. For the few fans out there, thanks for the continued support, this one's for you.

Devious Chapter 7: Pretend To Be Nice

*** But can't you just pretend to be nice
Can you at least pretend to be nice
If you could just pretend to be nice
Then everything in my life would be alright

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ginny was floating. She didn't know where or how but all she could feel was the sheer weightlessness of her being floating around in the depths of her mind while she slept. And she was sure she was sleeping because no waking sensation could feel like this. It was like being stuck in the land between the conscious and the comatose; like floating in the space between the clouds and the rain. But then the aches started. It started in her toes and then slowly traveled its way up like the kissing licks of flame traveling up a paper tower. Soon, Ginny was engulfed in it, and the soreness and stiffness in her limbs became more apparent. Her head started to spin and she heard a strange clicking noise off in the distance.

Click, click. Click. Click, click, click.

Ginny's eyes sprang open and she regretted it immediately. Her head was pounding. It felt like garden gnomes had tunneled themselves into Ginny's head and taken residence there, pounding their little fists into her brain over and over. She squeezed her eyes shut again and opened them more slowly this time letting her eyes adjust. That's when her memories came flooding back. Ginny abruptly sat straight up, regretting it again as her head spun wildly at the sudden movement and took in her surroundings. She was lying in an unfamiliar four poster bed and felt a momentary surge of panic before she realized she was in the living room of the beach house.

"Finally, sleeping beauty awakens from her fitful slumber," A drawling voice said to her left.

Ginny glanced over to find Draco standing in the middle of the room. He was holding a candle lighter in his hand, clicking the flame on and off on and off explaining the clicking sound she thought she was hearing in her dream.

"I'm not still dreaming am I?" She said uncertainly.

"Although I'm probably the manifestation of a lot of people's dreams, you happen to be lucky in the fact that you are not dreaming and I am actually here to grace you with my presence." Draco said smirking and put the candle lighter down.

Ginny squinted to get a better view of Draco so she could see his face and realized the reason she had to squint in the first place was that the room was a lot dimmer than it usually was. Upon closer inspection Ginny discovered that it was lit all around with an array of candles. A fire was blazing merrily in the grate. A quick glance outside the window told her the storm was still in full swing.

"The power is out." Draco explained seeing the questioning look on Ginny's face. "It went out just a few minutes after you left."

"What happened? How did I get here? Start from the beginning. The last thing I remember is…"

Draco's face darkened. "You were attacked, by Dolohov and Yaxley. They were posing as muggle tourists and they corned you on the street. They put the—"

"Cruciatus curse." Ginny interrupted. "Yeah, that part I remember."

"Well they were getting ready for round two by the looks of it when Pansy found you. Then you must've blacked out cause' you were unconscious when she brought you in."

"When Pansy found me? As in Parkinson?" Ginny was flabbergasted.

"When you didn't come back after a half an hour, I sent her after you. I couldn't risk blowing our cover to come after you myself," He said without emotion.

Not entirely sure if it was concern he was trying to mask Ginny asked, "What about her cover? How did she get me out of there?"

Draco was staring into the fire and spoke without looking at her, "She confunded them from behind, told them you were her sister and thanked them for finding you for her. They seemed to buy it at first then Dolohov decided to have half a brain and remembered that he had been torturing you. She had to obliviate them both after that and imperiused them to send them back to headquarters just to be safe. She got you into the house and helped get you into some dry clothes. We set you out here because it was closer to the fireplace. You were shivering like mad."

Ginny looked down at herself and realized that she was not wearing pajama's that were familiar to her. "Whose are these then?" Ginny asked. She highly doubted they were Pansy's since they were flannel. Pansy struck her as more of a silk, satin or lace kind of girl.

"Yours," Draco said, finally turning to look at her. "I transfigured them because I couldn't find anything warmer to put you in. You obviously didn't pack for colder weather."

"Well its July," She said defensively, "in the Hamptons."

A clap of thunder and lightning crashed outside the window then, making Ginny start convulsively as memories of being out in the melee with the two renegade Death Eaters seeped into her mind. She unconsciously grabbed the blanket and pulled it closer to her body as if it could shield her from her thoughts. Draco noticed.

"Are you still cold?"

And Ginny couldn't tell if it was genuine curiosity that laced his tone or concern. She mentally slapped herself for wanting it to be the latter.

"Yes," She lied.

Draco only pointed his wand at the grate, making the fire flare up and burn brighter, omitting a palpable increase of heat in the room. She didn't thank him. She was watching his face intently. Draco's face had not changed from his quietly neutral façade.

"Where's Pansy?" Ginny asked to break the silence.

A flicker of emotion shot across Draco's face then, as the façade cracked for moment. But as soon as it was there, it had gone.

"She went to do damage control. The Death Eaters can't know that you escaped. They thought you were a muggle. Even with their memories swiped they would know you had outside help. You don't just bounce back from a double dose of the Cruciatus, no matter how stubborn you are. I never should have let you go out there alone. You didn't do magic in front of them did you?" The last question came out like an accusation and Ginny's temper flared.

"No I didn't use magic in front of them. What do I look like? You know, you're lack of faith in my ability as an auror is really growing tired Malfoy. And you're the one that wanted dinner out of the stupid bet; I was just trying to hold up my end of the bargain. If we can't trust each other, this is never going to work. I refuse to be treated like a child," She huffed, out of breath.

Draco's brows disappeared into his hair. "A simple 'no' would have sufficed."

Ginny gaped at him. It was like he hadn't listened to a word she'd said. Ginny knew that there was no love lost between the two of them, and it didn't help that their families had hated each other since the dawn of time. Or that her brother and ex boyfriend had picked fights with him all through school, (although he did instigate a lot of them) and that Hermione had slapped him across the face once. And the bat bogey thing, that didn't help either. But despite all that, it was quite a shock for Ginny to feel the tiniest bit hurt that he didn't seem to care what happened to her at all. I mean she had just had the god damn Cruciatus curse put on her. Twice.

Pushing down ill feelings toward the arrogant blonde in front of her she only said, "A simple 'no' wouldn't have gotten my point across but a fat lot of good that did me since I don't think I got anything across to you anyway." She didn't know why she was being so damn sensitive. Like she really cared what he thought.

He must've caught something in her voice though, because he was looking at her curiously. "Are you crying?" He sounded incredulous.

And Ginny was shocked to find that her eyes were indeed starting to feel moist in the corners.

"I need to shower," She said, turning away abruptly and turning to slide off the bed.

It was quite a bit higher than she had anticipated and with the combination of her previous vertigo and her weakened state, she stumbled when her feet made impact with the floor. Draco was there before she had time to register that she was about to fall. Her head was spinning from moving so suddenly and if Draco hadn't been holding her up, she was sure her knees would have given out. As it was they did give out as soon as she had finished the thought. Draco grabbed her around the waist, hoisting her up as if she weighed nothing, hooking his arms under her knees and placing her back on the bed.

"You are in no fit condition to go anywhere but back to sleep," He said in a matter-of-fact voice that made Ginny feel twelve years old again.

Her skin burned where he had touched her and it made her suddenly hyper aware of just how thin her pajamas were despite the flannel.

"Don't tell me what to do," Ginny said, embarrassed and angry that she couldn't even storm off in a huff when she wanted to without his assistance. It just didn't have the same dramatic affect if the person you were trying to run away from had to come a catch you as you failed miserably at running away.

Draco sighed dramatically. "If you really want to take a shower, I can carry you if you like." He was looking at the ceiling as he said this and Ginny felt a pang of annoyance shoot through her.

Is the thought of touching me really that daunting? She wondered. He didn't seem to have a problem when he was dumping me in the ocean. She continued sourly.

"I'd prefer it if you kept your ferrety claws off me, thanks." Ginny retorted scathingly hoping to hit a nerve.

It didn't work. Draco just shrugged. "Suit yourself, if you're not going to shower than I will."

Ginny seethed silently as she watched Draco walk into the master bedroom. Draco Malfoy was just a gift that just kept on giving. Another clap of thunder came, this time closer, shaking the house with its impact, a jagged shard of lightning slicing through the sky outside. The tumultuous downpour was deafening as it pounded on the glass windows and Ginny felt suddenly very alone in the candlelit room. When she heard the shower turn on, she slipped (slowly this time) off the bed, only having a momentary lack in balance in which she grabbed the bed post to steady herself and padded slowly into the master bedroom. She was still shaky from the impact of the curse so it took a lot longer than she wanted it to but finally she reached the door way.

The master bathroom door was slightly ajar when she got there and Ginny could hear the continuous running of water from behind it. After a few seconds of searching, Ginny found what she was looking for: Her wand sitting on the bedside table. She was about to limp back into the living room when she caught sight of the clock on the far wall. It was six thirty. As if on cue, her stomach gave an almighty rumble and she placed a placating hand over it. Limping slightly Ginny headed back into the kitchen to see what she could scrounge up.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and glass of milk later Ginny, wand lit, slowly made her way back to the master bedroom to see where Draco was at with his shower. Making her way into the room, she found Draco with his back to her wrapped in a fluffy blue towel from the waist down digging through his drawers. He glanced up at her arrival. Water droplets still clung to his torso and his hair hung in a damp halo around his head making his usually white blonde hair look gold. He seemed completely unconcerned of his indecency as he watched her approach.

"I need to shower," Ginny said, pointedly looking at the spot a few inches left of his face.

"It's all yours," Draco said, only looking mildly surprised to see her walking about on her own.

After a nice hot shower to soothe her nerves and aching muscles, Ginny was in a much better mood. Her legs were still a bit wobbly when she walked but she figured that would go away after a few hours more rest. Stepping out of the steamy shower into the candle lit bathroom Ginny quickly toweled off her hair, wrapping the towel around her body as she exited the bathroom—and found Draco laying on the bed looking right at her. His hair was still damp from his own shower and he had put clothes on—kind of anyway. He was wearing flannel pajama bottoms. Nothing else. Ginny was suddenly very conscious of how short the towel she was wearing seemed to be and that he was still staring at her.

Ignoring the burning look he was giving her, Ginny made to retreat to the walk in closet when another earsplitting crack of thunder pierced the sky. Ginny gave another little start at the noise; almost dropping her towel and she swore she saw Draco smirk in the darkness. Once inside the closet away from his prying eyes, Ginny ditched the flannel, reaching for something lighter, deciding that it wasn't so cold with the fire burning and candles lit everywhere. Freshly changed, she cast a quick drying charm on her hair and exited the closet, finding the candles all extinguished. Not wanting to bother him if he were asleep already, Ginny quickly made her way over to the giant four poster in the living room.

Crawling under the covers once more Ginny wondered how Draco could sleep when the wind was howling so loudly. Ginny eventually nodded off, with thoughts of Death Eaters and what the Cruciatus curse felt like still fresh in her mind. A few hours later, a pounding sound coming from the front door awoke Ginny with a start. The storm was still unyielding. A glance outside told her that mother nature's war zone was still in effect. Sliding off the bed, Ginny went to investigate the pounding coming from the front door. A quick look through the peep hold told her that the screen door to the house was dangerously close to being ripped off its hinges and she quickly muttered a sticking charm on the door, sealing the door shut.

Making her way back to the bed, Ginny found she was wide awake. She had always had trouble sleeping through storms, ever since she was a child. Her bedroom, being on the upper level of a multileveled home with precarious foundations to begin with, didn't serve to be a confidence booster when the fierce winds and harsh thunder wracked her house and shook it on his frame. In the end, she had always ended up in Bill or Charlie's room. The twins and Ron slept like rocks and Percy was always so indignant at being woken up that Ginny would've rather lost a whole nights worth of sleep than listen to his lecturing. Bill and Charlie, being the oldest, had had larger beds, and whenever a particularly large storm hit, whenever they heard the squeak of their door hinges, they'd scoot over automatically, giving her room to snuggle in. Those were always the nights she slept the best. When Bill and Charlie were away at school, Ginny would suffer many sleepless nights alone in her room, listening to the tumult outside and wishing her big brothers were there to hug all her fears away. It got to the point where her mother started to notice the bags under her eyes after the heavy storms and wrote to Bill, concerned about her daughter's apparent phobia. That was the year that Ginny received a giant stuff dragon for Christmas. The note simply read: For the nights you need a ride into dream land. It hadn't been signed, but Ginny knew.

That had been years ago, however and the stuffed dragon now lay on her bed in her old room at the Burrow and Bill was in Egypt and Charlie in Romania. Ginny shivered despite the still burning fire in the grate. The fire had burned down into bright coals in the hearth but was still distributing quite a bit of warmth into the room. She shook her head at herself thinking, Here I am, a fully trained auror on probably one of the most important under cover missions of my career and possibly life, I've gotten tortured by two death eaters, and I'm shaking in my boots cause of a damn lightning storm. There was another deafening crash of thunder and Ginny squeezed her eyes shut, heart hammering wildly in her chest; the irrational fear gripping her like an iron fist. She couldn't keep this up much longer or she was going to have a mental break down. Slipping down from her perch on the high four poster once more, Ginny quickly switched her resolve with her pride, locking away the latter in the deepest cavity of her soul before padding silently down the hallway.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Draco was asleep. Or at least he thought he had been when he heard the slow creak of the bedroom door opening slowly. His senses went into immediate alert but he dared not open his eyes. Then he had a confusing thought. If there was an intruder in the house, he/she would've had to by pass Ginny since she was in the living room. Unless they had broken in from the back in which case the wards that were protecting what he was hiding out there would have been breached. Which they weren't or Draco would have felt it. Furrowing his brows in the dark, he slowly opened his eyes.

He saw red.

"Malfoy?" Ginny whispered.

She was currently hovering over his head, sheets of her hair falling over one shoulder in a cascade of waves. In the dying candle light her head looked like a halo of flame and Draco found himself wanting to reach out and touch it.

"What are you doing?" He snapped before the impulse could over take him.

Ginny bit her lip. She was embarrassed about something.

"Can I—I mean, I can't sleep," She said quietly. So quietly that Draco had to strain to hear her even though she was standing right over him, because she didn't seem able to meet his gaze.

"So?" He prodded, irritation seeping into his tone now. "Do you need me to read you a bedtime story or something?"

Another crash of lightening sounded very close to the house, sounding as though it had struck right outside the window and Ginny flinched convulsively shutting her eyes as if willing the storm away with her thoughts. Draco stared at her.

"Are you afraid of thunder storms Weasley?"

To Draco's utter shock Ginny nodded mutely, eyes still resolutely shut. She seemed to be bracing herself for the cutting remark. The snide comment or ridicule that was sure to come from this revelation. Draco stole this chance to study her face. She was paler than she normally was; the slight color she got in the sun from earlier in the day bleached out of her skin in the pale glow of the dying flickers of candles. Her hair was a wild halo of reddish gold around her face and the fair amount of skin that was exposed from her choice of bed wear which Draco now noticed was covered in goose pimples. There were also bags under her eyes.

He must have been quiet for longer than he realized because those eyes popped open suddenly to meet his cool gray ones. She was shivering now but her gaze was steady. Draco realized for the first time how much it had taken for her to come to him like this. The pride she must be repressing and the failed dignity.

Wordlessly he shifted over on the bed, making room for her, throwing the corner of the sheet back to let her in. If Ginny was shocked at his action, she didn't show it. She just crawled into the sheets next to him as if she climbed into bed with her sworn nemesis every night. He didn't look at her, but felt the weight shift on the bed as she turned on her side, presumably to face away from him. He risked a quick glance in her direction and discovered that he had assumed correctly, but the slight movement of his head had caused him to catch of whiff of her shampoo. It was a warm sugary kind of smell with something spicy mixed in, vanilla maybe, with a slight hint of cinnamon.

Mainly to distract himself from the enticing aroma Ginny was omitting, Draco thought back to the events of earlier that afternoon.

"Weasley," He found himself saying into the darkness.

"Hmm?" Ginny's voice was faint. She sounded sleepy

"I'm sorry I wasn't there today. I should've been with you. We're partners and I was supposed to be watching your back."

"Don't be stupid," Ginny murmured, and she sounded more awake now. "I was just nipping out to get some groceries. Neither one of us could've known I was going to be attacked by Death Eaters in disguise. Talk about ironic. We'll just need to be extra careful."

Then he heard her giggle.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class Weasley?"

"A Malfoy apologizing to a Weasley and for failing to protect me no less, and only for me to be rescued by Pansy Parkinson of all people, it has been a crazy day."

"You're ruining the magic Weasel. Go to sleep."

He was met with silence and just when he thought she had finally nodded off…

"Malfoy?" Ginny whispered so suddenly that Draco actually flinched.

"What?" He was staring straight ahead.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Seriously. Ever." And he could swear that he could almost feel the grin that was undoubtedly on the red heads face as she cuddled deeper into the covers.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunlight streamed in through the sheer curtains of the master bedroom, illuminating the two prone figures on the bed like a spotlight. Ginny was the first one to stir. The first thing she realized was the orange glow she could see through her eyelids meant that the storm was over. The second thing she realized was that she couldn't move. Her eyes snapped open and she looked down. A pale but rather pleasantly muscled arm was draped over her waist and her back seemed to be pressed up against something solid and warm.

Draco.

The events of the previous day did a fast forward play back in her head as she recollected how she'd ended up in bed with her nemesis-turned-partner. Not wanting to wake him for fear of the awkward-morning-conversation, no matter how innocent last night was, Ginny gingerly turned over underneath his arm to gaze at Draco's face.

He looked so tranquil. His hair looked pale gold under the early morning rays, tousled lightly from sleep, his face clear of any evidence of a smirk or a sneer. Ginny also noticed for the first time that he was not wearing a shirt. Gazing at his sleeping form, she was reminded of a statue of a sleeping Adonis. Letting her eyes slip lower she noticed a faint scar on his left shoulder. It was about two inches long and ran diagonally from shoulder to where it connected with his pectoral muscle.

Ginny's eyes flew wide as a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her wrist. In her haze, she hadn't realized that she had reached out to trace the faint scar lightly with her finger tips. She looked up. Draco's eyes were still closed but he had a firm grip around her left wrist. He opened his eyes to stare at her and for a moment Ginny thought he was going to be angry.

"That tickles," He said.

And for some reason this made the blood rush straight to her cheeks, staining them a rich crimson. She mumbled a quick apology and pulled her hand back, getting out of bed now that she was freed from Draco's arms. Ginny stood up and suppressed a shudder, ignoring the sudden feeling of emptiness that action spurned. Glancing around for her bedroom slippers, Ginny found them at the foot of the bed and proceeded to slip them on when she felt a pair of eyes boring into her.

When she looked up Draco, was staring at her with a lazy, half lidded expression, hands folded behind his head and the tell tale smirk firmly in place. She was about to ask him just what the hell he was staring at when she caught where his eye line was pointed.

"Cold Weasley?"

Ginny looked down at her silk camisole and suppressed a groan. She had not worn a bra to bed last night. And now it was painfully obvious. She crossed her arms.

"Pig." She sneered before marching into the bathroom and slamming the door on his pompous leering face.

Once under the relaxing stream of hot water, Ginny finally relaxed, closing her eyes and letting the spray loosen her muscles. While her body started to unwind from the traumatic events of the night before, her mind was busy wandering over the less traumatic and more interesting events of the evening. She had no idea why Draco consented to letting her sleep in his bed last night, though Ginny thought she was fairly sure he felt bad about what had happened. But that would mean Ginny admitting to the fact that Draco Malfoy had feelings. Right. Her next thought was that he was just too tired to argue.

"Why am I even thinking so much about it?" She reprimanded herself.

Then her mind conjured up the image of how he looked when she woke up this morning: hair tousled carelessly from sleep, stormy eyes half lidded, the feel of his hand around her wrist, his bare chest and how it had felt when she ran her finger tips across his scar…

Ginny's eyes snapped open, abruptly turning the faucet to cold.

A/N 2: Yeah I know not much happened and it was short, but I had to end it somewhere and I'm going to be out of town this weekend so I wanted to give you SOMETHING. I will try my very best to get the next chapter out quicker since the plot is moving along now. Again thank you to all those who read and even more to those who review!