With a Twist: Fic

[x_alexithymia_x]

Title: With a Twist
Author x_alexithymia_x
Genre: Humor/Romance
Summary: Later that night, when the halls were barren and the sun had gone down, they bonded over hot chocolate, one of Ginny's favorite things, though this time, with a twist.
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, just the plot.



Ginny Weasley loved winter.

She loved the cold, the fact that you had to wear layers, scarves, mittens, and boots. She loved the snow, the way it looked when you stood out on the grounds and watched it fall. She loved the way the flakes melted onto her tongue.

But, most of all, she loved hot chocolate.

She wasn't sure why she did, she just always remembered drinking it when it was cold outside, if she was at Hogwarts or the Burrow. There was just something about it, all the flavors, and the warmth that spread through her as the liquid touched her lips.

She had been daydreaming about having a mug of it when she slammed into someone so hard that she fell backward. The hallway had been deserted when she started down it.

"Watch where you're going," a voice snapped.

Ginny blinked, staring up at the owner of the voice. He was tall with a pale pointed face, blond hair, and grey eyes.

Draco Malfoy sneered at her, straightened his robes, and left.

It was two days later that Ginny ran into him again. This time, however, it wasn't in the literal sense. She had just come across him in the Great Hall. He was sitting with the rest of the Slytherins, looking bored as Pansy Parkinson talked to him.

"What are you looking at?"

Ginny was so distracted, and she wasn't even sure why, that she hadn't heard Neville come up behind her until he was sitting next to her.

"Oh, hi," she said cheerfully. "Nothing. I just had a run in with Malfoy a few days ago." She pushed her red hair away from her face and smiled.

"And you're still annoyed?" Neville asked. "Why? He's a git, you know that. What happened?"

"I ran into him and he left me sitting on the floor," she explained.

Neville frowned. "He's such a jerk. I wonder why Harry never stunned him when he had the chance, and believe me, he had so many. We all did."

Ginny smiled a little bit.

"Using a spell on him wouldn't help anything," she said. "He'd still be a bastard."

"He always will be," a voice said. "He's wired to be a prick."

Harry stood near Neville, his eyes narrowed. He didn't say anything else, just sat down and started to eat. Once or twice he asked someone to pass him something he couldn't get himself, but that was it.

Ginny wasn't certain why, but she returned her attention to the Slytherin table once again, Harry and Neville forgotten.

The Gryffindor common room was empty when Ginny entered it later in the day. She sat down in the armchair by the fire and shut her eyes, feeling suddenly tired. Before she could get a moment's peace, she heard a slew of voices erupt around her, and the portrait hole shut.

"That was brilliant, Ron!"

"Yes, it was really. I didn't expect you to do that to him."

"He's a git, so he deserved it."

"Did you see his face?"

Ginny cracked an eye open and turned her head to see Seamus, Dean, and Harry all staring excitedly at Ron.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Harry grinned at her. "Ron and Malfoy got into it, and well, Ron had had enough so he stunned him."

"You did what?" came a shrill voice. "Oh, Ron, how could you?" It was Hermione. She looked less than pleased, unlike the rest of them. She shook her head.

"What's wrong with what he did?" Seamus asked.

"He could get detention," was all Hermione said.

"That's all?" Ron asked, frowning. "That's not bad at all. Besides, Malfoy needed to be taught a lesson."

"And you just had to be the one to do it?" Hermione said tersely. "There's no reason for it. You could have left him alone."

Ginny sighed. She hated when things got like this. All she wanted was some quiet, and instead, she got an argument. She figured no one would notice she left, but as she walked to the portrait it opened, revealing Neville.

"Oh, Gin, you missed it!" he said with a giant grin.

"I heard about it," she said, sidestepping him.

The corridor was deserted, as she expected. She didn't know where she was going, so she just walked. She ended up walking toward the grounds, which was fine, because then she could sit in the snow by the lake.

White covered every inch of grass as Ginny opened the entrance doors. Cold air assaulted her, slamming into her body, down her throat. She used her wand to conjure a scarf and mittens.

She had just stepped onto the snow, sinking slowly, when someone got in her way. She was surprised to see him, away from his friends, and looking rather cold. His hair was blowing in the wind, and he seemed very annoyed by this.

"You could use a hat," Ginny suggested. "Why are you staring at me like that? Haven't you got anything better to do?"

"I have one," Malfoy snapped. "You're in my way, Weasley."

"Oh." Ginny glared. "You could have not been a git and asked me to move? I mean, you've got all this room to walk, I'm just one tiny girl."

"One insufferable poor girl," he corrected her, smirking. "As it happens, I was going to meet my friends before I ran into you."

He went around her, and as he climbed the steps back to the castle, her voice stopped him.

"How did it feel?"

"He turned around. "How did what feel?" he asked.

"Getting stunned by my brother," Ginny said, grinning. "I bet you never thought you'd see the day when Ron would ever do that to you."

"Your brother only did it because Potter told him to," Malfoy snapped. He walked back down the steps and right up to her. "He's a coward without someone to push him."

Ginny, angry, bit the inside of her mouth, trying to focus on that pain more than what she would feel if her fist collided with his face. She simply glared at him and toyed with the idea of not only hitting him, but using a Bat Boogey Hex.

After all, that was her specialty.

"Don't even think about hexing me, Weaslette." He smiled in a charming, annoying way.

"I wasn't," replied Ginny defensively.

"I'm sure," Malfoy drawled. "Well, it's been a pleasure." His sounded less than thrilled though.

"Git," she mumbled.

But he was gone by then.

Annoyance gripped Ginny later as she sat by the frozen lake buddle in her jacket, mittens and scarf. The grounds were empty, so it was just her and the snow, but that was the way she liked it.

Ginny rested her head in the white fluff, prepared to make a snow angel, when something came sailing over her head and landed on her stomach. She blinked and looked at it.

A glob of snowball.

"The idea of the game is to throw one back," a familiar voice said.

Malfoy was standing a few feet away, clad in black, packed snow in his gloved hand. He was smirking at her, his white hair blowing around his ears, even under the hat that he wore.

At that second, Ginny looked at him like she had never seen him before. It was a strange feeling. She shook her head to clear it and stood up.

"That's cute," she replied, staring at him, "you're trying to not be a git."

He frowned and took a step closer. "Actually, Weaslette, I was trying to be nice. I don't know what it is, but this time of the year makes me want to act-"

"Human?" she asked, smiling faintly.

His grey eyes grew cold and she immediately regretted her response.

"I'm very human," he told her, frowning. "You just can't see because you're blinded by what your family has drilled into your head."

"I know what you are," Ginny said quietly.

A muscle in Malfoy's jaw twitched and he set his jaw, his eyes narrowing. "Oh, but you don't, Ginny. You don't know the first thing about me."

Her expression was mixed, and he couldn't figure it out. So he waited for her to yell or to hex him. But what he wasn't prepared for was what actually happened.

That was the day Ginny Weasley strode up to Draco Malfoy and kissed him while the snow fell around them. He never asked her why she did it, and she never told him. But he figured it didn't matter.

Later that night, when the halls were barren and the sun had gone down; they bonded over hot chocolate, one of Ginny's favorite things, though this time, with a twist.

Whoever finished their cup first had to tell Ron about what happened between them.

Ginny drank slowly.