blithelybonny wrote "The Best Laid Plans" for the dgficexchange 1/2
Title: The Best Laid Plans 1/2
Rating: NC-17
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Post-HBP. Smut.
Summary: Ginny wants out of the sanctuary that has been forced upon her, and by using a bit of cunning and an unsuspecting Draco Malfoy, she intends to get herself out. But things change and so do people. Will she flourish or will she fail, and why does sex have to complicate everything?
Note: Many, many thanks to my three betas: seegrim, fallenwitch, and bela.
The Best Laid Plans 1/2
Ginny roughly tossed dish after dish into the kitchen sink, finding an inordinate amount of joy in the way the well-used china clinked and chipped with her fury. In the very back of her mind, she knew that she was only going to get yelled at later, but her righteous anger only allowed her to continue mercilessly abusing the plates.
She also couldn't help but keep replaying the argument she'd had with Harry and the others earlier in the day over and over until she was almost positive that she'd memorized everything down to the exact placement of Harry's hair over his scar when he'd vehemently shaken his head at her. Of course, it was essentially the same argument that they'd all been having since they had all been forced into the cramped, but safe, Order headquarters - the newly-restored home of Harry's parents in Godric's Hollow - and it simply boiled down to: "Ginny, you're just too young for this -- it's too dangerous out there for you." Ginny found their reasoning to be complete and utter rubbish, as she was more than capable of handling herself in a fight against Death Eaters, and besides, didn't they need every available person to overtake Voldemort's army?
Ginny let out a frustrated sigh, shoving a careless, dish-soapy hand through her hair, before tossing another dish with more force than necessary into the rack for herself to dry later. The whole thing just simply wasn't fair. Hell, Ron got to go out and fight, and he'd nearly died earlier in the year in an attempt on the former Headmaster's life! The inequity of it all just made Ginny seethe with anger and -
"Honestly, Weasley, I can hear you banging away in here from the attic."
And him! In addition to the myriad problems Ginny had in her life at the moment, he had to fucking show up in the kitchen to make them ten times worse with his incredibly unwanted presence.
Whirling around at the sink, Ginny faced him, a dirty spatula with that morning's leftover eggs over-easy on it in one hand and the other gripping the counter's edge for support. "What of it, Death Eater?" she spat, and somewhere very, very deep inside, she grinned at herself for being so witty on the fly like that.
Rolling his ice-gray eyes at her, Draco Malfoy sighed dramatically. "Your wit astounds, little girl," he commented, but before Ginny could come up with a proper retort, he turned on his heels and left the kitchen in a flurry of robes.
The redhead's mouth dropped open. How dare he! How dare he just come in here like that, call her a little girl, and then walk away before she could defend herself? Obviously, his quip called for her to set down the dishware and march up to the attic to finish what he'd started. Of course, Ginny was itching for a fight, and had it been anyone else, she still would have ran off to mess with them, but the fact that it was Malfoy had just iced the proverbial cake, in her eyes.
The arrogant blond had rather surprised them all when he'd first shown up on the doorstep of the headquarters, a stunned Nagini-shaped Horcrux wrapped around his shoulders, and a confession on his lips that he had simply chosen wrongly, that Death Eating was not for him, and with his poor mother now dead by the hands of the very man who'd promised to keep her safe, he no longer had an excuse to stick around.
That was another night that Ginny could remember in explicit, almost photographic detail, and it was another of the things she often thought about whenever she was doing the chores that had been delegated to her.
It was pouring rain, and Professor Lupin and Auror Shacklebolt were on sentry duty, but Harry had first spotted the intruder in one of his now-infamous nightmares. He practically fell down the stairs and landed in an ungraceful heap at the bottom, clutching his scar and screaming. It was obvious that Voldemort was extremely angry about something, and once they were finally able to calm Harry down, he said that the Dark Lord was angry because he'd been betrayed.
Malfoy managed to breach the wards that were designed to keep out anyone with malicious intent not an hour later. The snake was draped almost artfully around his thinner-than-usual frame, the torrential rain had plastered his white-blond hair to his forehead, and his eyes carried just a hint of desperation in them. He was clutching at the doorframe to keep himself upright. It was certainly a wake-up call to most of the people who'd known him that something had obviously changed, especially to Harry, who immediately dragged his schoolboy rival into another room to conference with him.
Ginny sat outside the door of the room, desperately resisting the urge to run and get a pair of Extendable Ears, for almost two hours before the two of them finally emerged. Harry announced to everyone that Malfoy had indeed brought them a Horcrux and that the former Death Eater was to be trusted. He then dashed off, beckoning to Hermione, Ron, and Lupin as he did so, most likely to get to work on destroying the Horcrux, and left Draco to remain under the scrutiny of those still in the hall.
One by one, they dissipated, murmuring to themselves about what had just happened, but Ginny stayed. She wasn't about to just let this go. "I don't trust you," she said, once they had all gone, leaving the two of them alone.
"I don't care," he said, distractedly, as his eyes darted up and down the hall. He had the odd stance of a cornered animal, as if he feared someone was going to come up any second and snatch him away.
Ginny's eyes narrowed, but she kept her distance from him. "I mean it. You don't belong here; I don't care what anyone else says."
After a long moment of silence, he finally looked her straight in the eyes. "Finally moved on from the Boy Wonder, then, have you?" he said archly, quirking an eyebrow.
Pursing her lips, Ginny made a brief attempt to keep her temper in check because it wouldn't do to have Bat-Bogeys flying around the room (because she'd likely be forced to clean up the mess later) before she answered him. "Shut up," she managed to say through gritted teeth. "I'm not a blind follower…not of anyone."
He smirked, infuriating her. "Whatever you say," he replied tantalizingly. Then, he started off down the hallway and disappeared up the stairs towards the attic, leaving Ginny alone.
It hadn't occurred to Ginny until much later that she and Malfoy were now quite thoroughly in the same boat. She couldn't leave the Headquarters because they wouldn't let her, and he couldn't leave the Headquarters because he'd immediately draw the attention of Death Eaters. It was a sanctuary, in a way, but to Ginny it felt like a prison. The only bright spots she found were making unnecessary noise and tormenting Malfoy whenever she got the chance.
So she couldn't help the little grin that appeared on her face as she climbed the stairs to the attic to continue their spat. Sure, it was a little silly, but she didn't want to go back to doing the dishes. She could only do so much pointless housework and laundry and cooking before she started feeling like throwing herself off the balcony.
As she reached the second floor landing, Ginny heard voices coming from one of the bedrooms, and, despite the fact that she was eager to get up to Malfoy to unload on him, her curiosity got the better of her. It wasn't often that someone forgot to put an Imperturbable Charm on a door these days. She tiptoed stealthily up to the door and pressed her ear against it. The voices were muffled, but she could still make out what they were saying.
"I just don't like it," a familiar boy's voice said. "I don't like the way he looks at her."
A small smirk twisted onto Ginny's lips, as she pressed her ear tighter to the door, wishing that there was a way to see inside.
"He doesn't look at her any differently than he looks at anyone else in this house, Ronald," Hermione chided him, her characteristically bossy voice obvious to Ginny even through the door.
"Yes, he does, and I don't like it. It makes me nervous when she's here with him," Ron replied, and Ginny could just imagine him pacing back and forth in front of the bed.
"You're being silly. Harry said we could trust Malfoy, and so I trust him. I may not like him, and Lord knows I probably never will, but he's obviously trustworthy or he never would have been able to get in here in the first place, and Harry certainly wouldn't have allowed him to stay."
Ginny's mouth dropped open. How fortuitous that she should stumble upon this conversation, of all the conversations that were potentially going on around the house at any given time! First of all, she could probably get a little more ammunition for the fight she still firmly intended on finishing with Malfoy, and secondly, she would have some other dramatic thing to think over when she got bored. She was wondering just who it was that Malfoy was looking at that had Ron's knickers in such a twist.
"And no offense to you, but we all know he doesn't like you or your family, so why would he treat Ginny any differently than the rest of you?" Hermione continued, after a silence.
Ginny's knee-jerk reaction was to be insulted at Hermione's insinuation, but after a moment of bristling, a wide grin spread across her freckled face, as she realized just what this meant. Her big brother was afraid to leave her alone in the house with the scary former Death Eater because of the way he apparently looked at her when he thought no one else could see.
Not particularly interested in the behind-closed-doors conversation anymore, as her mind was too busy whirring to life and processing what she'd heard, Ginny stepped back from the door and began to walk back to the staircase to continue going up the stairs. Halfway up, though, she stopped and took a seat on the step she'd been standing on. She'd had an epiphany.
If it was Ron's biggest fear that something was going to happen between herself and Malfoy when no one was home to witness it, wouldn't that be just the impetus needed in order to get herself out? Malfoy couldn't very well touch her if she wasn't there, now could he? Then she would finally be able to convince the lot of them that she was better off out there with them; she'd only really need one shot to prove to them that she was capable of handling herself in battle.
She'd have to be careful, she knew. Ron was prone to blowing things out of proportion, as Hermione was well aware of, so Ginny knew that the others would likely think he was just overreacting again if she didn't play her cards just right. But if she could get proof somehow, if she could play up whatever tiny, insignificant thing had happened to make Ron think that some kind of Draco/Ginny conspiracy was going on behind his back, perhaps they would all start to think that she shouldn't be left behind when they all went out. It might mean going against her very strong beliefs that Malfoy was some kind of demon spawn sent with the express purpose of making her angry, by making nice with him. It might even mean attempting to, dare she even imagine it, elicit some sort of response out of him right out in the open where everyone could see just how in danger of being seduced by him she was.
Yet, Ginny thought, it all seems worth it. If she could break out of her elder-imposed prison using a bit of cunning - it wasn't just a Slytherin thing, really - it would be worth getting her hands a little dirty.
The argument with Malfoy all but forgotten, Ginny headed back down the stairs to go to the bedroom she was sharing with Hermione and the Patil twins. She flopped ungracefully onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. With a smile, Ginny began to formulate a plan that would get her out, no matter what it took.
--- --- --- ---
It began innocently enough. Ginny would spare Malfoy a glance here and there that wasn't overtly hostile. She would quite politely pass him the butter or the salt when he asked for them without adding in a smart-alecky comment. She would see him in the hallway and nod a greeting instead of sneering one.
It was fairly slow-going because Ginny knew that if she were to just run up and snog him in the middle of breakfast out of nowhere, they would think she was just looking for a fight. Yet, after a few weeks of innocent behavior, she began to see snippets of reciprocation from the blond git. One morning after passing him the plate of bacon, he responded with a barely audible "thank you." When she quite accidentally-on-purpose dropped a book she'd been carrying in front of him, he bent to pick it up and handed it to her without making a comment about clumsiness.
The little moments might have seemed insignificant to most of the house, much to Ginny's disappointment, but they were having an affect on Ron. She saw the nervous glances that he'd give her after every little encounter and the barely-concealed hostility he afforded Malfoy if the latter happened to pay him more than just a passing glance. It willed her to keep going because Ginny knew that if she could get Ron to crack and explode on her in front of everyone, rather than just unloading his suspicions on Hermione in the privacy of his bedroom, the rest of the house would have to sit up and pay attention because Ron wouldn't let them just ignore it.
Much to her delight, Ginny got a big break one afternoon when she was stuck in the house, as per usual. Most of the others were out, either at St. Mungo's or Terry Boot's makeshift Potions Centre for research, Hogwarts for defensive training, or simply on patrol of the many busy wizarding streets. The only people around the house were herself, Malfoy somewhere, and the two sentries at the door.
Eyeing herself in the mirror above the bureau in her bedroom, Ginny picked up the kohl eyeliner that she'd filched from amongst Parvati's belongings. She hadn't particularly been surprised to see it there, as some habits were harder to break than others, and in fact, she'd actually been grateful to find some vestige of normality in an otherwise very abnormal situation. She had gone around to the different girls' rooms, borrowing whatever she felt like, and ended up with quite a collection of makeup and hair products. The redhead then set to fixing herself up, if for no other reason than she hadn't anything better to do since everyone was away.
It wasn't until after her eyes had been lightly lined and shadowed (with the golden brown shadow from Cho Chang) and her cheeks faintly flushed with blusher (tossed carelessly in a bag in the room shared by Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet) that she noticed she wasn't alone in the room any longer. Rose-colored lipstick (from Tonks, of all people) paused on its way to her lips as she noticed in the mirror a figure standing behind her, leaning casually in the doorway as if he wasn't totally entranced by the display.
"Is there something you wanted?" Ginny asked, deciding to play it cool and not give away the fact that her heart had nearly leapt into her throat from fright.
If he had been startled by her question, Ginny couldn't tell from the way he strolled into her room as if he owned the place. However, he didn't answer her; he walked into the room and took a seat on Padma's bed, keeping his gray as steel eyes on her the entire time, as if he was daring her to say something.
Rather than feeling unnerved, Ginny felt herself getting rather angry at having been intruded upon, especially when she couldn’t very well make the most of the opportunity since there was no one around to witness it. However, she was determined not to undo any of the progress she'd made in the last few weeks, so she was forced to keep her temper at bay. "What is it?" she then asked, as nicely as she could manage.
"What are you doing?" he asked back, barely letting her finish speaking.
Ginny couldn't tell if he meant it as a loaded question or not, although he probably didn't, considering how obviously unintelligent he was. She turned back to continue applying her make-up but kept her eyes on him through the mirror. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"You're putting on make-up, obviously," he drawled, condescendingly, "but for what purpose? There's no one here, but me. Although…"
Imperceptibly stiffening, Ginny paused in her application. "Although…what?" she responded airily.
"I'm trying to figure out what this sudden change of heart is all about, Weasley," he replied, an ugly little smirk coming to his lips.
Ginny fought the urge to dash over and rip it right off his smart little face. How dare he figure her out like that? It was ridiculous; he was supposed to be completely dazzled by her charm and subtlety. He was not supposed to call her out on her change in behavior. She decided, however, to go against her better judgment and continue playing like nothing had happened at all. "I don't know what you mean, Malfoy," she replied, setting down the lipstick and swiveling in her chair. "Change of heart?"
"Weasley," he began, getting up and walking over to her to stand over her as if it would intimidate her, "I haven't seen so much as an eye roll from you towards me in almost three weeks now. What gives?"
Ginny's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "What has that got to do with anything?"
Malfoy's smirk seemed even uglier up close. "You've treated me with nothing but contempt since I got here, and now all of a sudden, nothing. I want to know why. It doesn't fit your pattern, little girl, and I'm curious about the sudden deviation," he said.
"I'm NOT a little girl, Malfoy," Ginny spat, focusing on the slight rather than his astute observation of her behavior.
He snickered at her then, and it occurred to Ginny that he was actually enjoying this! He was getting a rise out of her, which was exactly what he wanted, or he wouldn't have come in the room in the first place (obviously!). She became determined not to blow all the good work she'd done by letting her temper get the best of her and unleashing it upon him. Even if it meant going against her better judgment - hexing the hell out of him and sending him on his way - she was not going to let him spoil her chance to get out by being a stupid arse.
She sighed softly and resignedly turned back to the mirror. She fussed with her hair for a moment, still keeping her eyes on his. "I don't know, maybe I just got tired of fighting with you," she continued lightly.
To her delight, Malfoy seemed taken aback by her honesty or the softness of her answer or any number of things. "You…you got tired of it?" he asked, incredulously, after a moment.
Ginny smiled at him in the mirror, though inwardly she was smiling because she felt she had successfully dodged a bullet. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, there's only so many different ways to call you a git before I start repeating myself, and I don't like to repeat material. It's boring." She couldn't help but giggle a little then at herself.
"Tired of it," he repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, tired of it." Ginny nodded firmly to emphasize her point, before picking up the lipstick again and beginning to apply it. After she had applied, blotted, and made a kissing face at herself in the mirror, she finally turned around again and faced Malfoy with a smile. "How do I look?" she asked innocently.
"You look pretty." Malfoy blanched then, as if she had caught him off-guard and he hadn't meant to say anything of the sort. "I mean, you don't look like a pile of dragon dung," he quickly amended.
Ginny was a little surprised, not by his rude comment, but by the honest one he'd given first. She turned her head to give herself another little once-over, and while she did have to admit that she looked pretty, she didn't think that he'd be someone to appreciate it, aesthetically or otherwise; he did once date Pansy Parkinson, after all.
"Thank you," she responded. I wonder if Harry or anyone else will even notice, she thought meanly to herself then; it brought her plan of action rushing back to the forefront of her mind. "So," she began again, returning to the business at hand, "we've established that I'm not going to be picking fights with you anymore. Are you going to keep trying to start things with me?"
It took him a moment to answer, but finally he was looking down at her with his normal condescension right back on his pointed, ferrety face. "I give this niceness thing a week, tops, before you're back to being the horrid little bint that you actually are," he drawled, snottily.
Anger flared to life within Ginny, but she knew that she was so close to a breakthrough, so she managed to restrain herself from hexing the snot out of him, but only just barely. "Look, I really am tired of the fighting. What's the point anymore? It's not doing anything productive! Merlin, it's like we're sodding lepers or something. We can't go out and help, but there isn't anything we can really do to help in here, either!" She paused for a moment, letting her words sink in before continuing. "I'll admit that fighting with you was really fun for a while, but it just isn't anymore. We're both in the same boat here - stuck. Why do we need to keep at each other's goats, instead of just accepting the fact that we're stuck here together?" She exhaled sharply, then, from the force of her words. After a moment, she looked up at him, straight in the eyes and added, "And you know something, Malfoy? I think we could even be…friends."
The last word of her little speech very nearly made Ginny gag, but seeing the expression on his face made it seem worth it. He looked to be turning over her proposal in his head, and Ginny could hardly bear the suspense. "Friends?" he echoed, looking at her and considering the idea.
"Yes, I know the concept is a bit difficult, what with never having had any and all, but a friend is a person who you sort of hang about with and chat with and what have you," she replied, keeping her tone innocent and teasing, but really meaning every word of it. "What do you say?"
For a moment, she almost thought he was going to storm out of the room and regretted having brandished her particular brand of humor before she'd gotten confirmation that he was receptive to it, but then he looked up at her and his face twisted into something she had never in her entire sixteen years seen before on him.
"We can't be friends, Weasley. You seem to have forgotten that I hate you and the rest of your red-headed band of merry fools," he replied, with a smile.
Ginny fixated on his smile, unable to draw her eyes away from this anomaly, even as she answered him. "You can't put that aside for awhile until the war is over? I can…wow, I must be a bigger person than you."
The jibe did as it intended, though it did chase his smile away. "I do apologize if I can't get past years and years of hatred in just a moment," he said, but his words carried just the barest hint of amusement that Ginny latched onto like a life preserver in the middle of the ocean.
"Malfoys actually know the words 'I apologize'?" she teased. "This has already been the most interesting day I've had here, if only because of that little revelation." When he didn't immediately dash out of the room, but rather sniffed an amused little laugh, Ginny almost couldn't believe her good fortune. He was falling for it hook, line, and sinker. "So what do you say?" she continued. "Friends, you and me?"
Malfoy looked at her for a long moment, and finally, he extended his hand to her to be shaken. "All right, Weasley, I suppose we have a deal."
Ginny scoffed, but reached out her hand to shake his firmly. "Yes, leave it to you to make something as simple as a friendship sound like a sodding business transaction." Though, Ginny could very well appreciate the irony that Malfoy actually was, in a sense, completing a transaction despite being completely unaware of it. He had a role to play in her little game, and he could now fulfill it that much easier.
"So what exactly is this friendship going to entail," he began, not yet letting go of her hand, "besides hanging about and chatting with one another?"
"I don't know exactly," she mimicked, cheerfully. "Why don't we just take it as it comes and see?"
Slowly letting her hand fall away from his, Malfoy considered her, lightly frowning. "I like plans, Weasley. I don't like to fly by the seat of my trousers, it's dangerous."
I like plans too, Malfoy, she thought to herself, but gave nothing away on her face. "Trust me, it'll be fun," she replied, aloud, with a grin. "It'll be fun."
--- --- --- ---
Ginny was almost amazed at how easy it was to become friends with Draco Malfoy. Perhaps she had been right about his not ever having any real friends, in light of the eagerness with which he took to befriending her, or perhaps he was itching for benevolent human contact as opposed to the veiled hostility that seemed to pervade everyone's behavior towards him, in spite of Harry's repeated reminders that he was to be trusted. Whatever the reason, though, Ginny absolutely relished in it, as he was making it almost too easy to make Ron realize his suspicions had truth to them, which was only bringing her closer and closer to her goal of freedom.
Of course, he was still generally as vile and unpleasant, as was his very annoying nature, and every moment she spent with him, Ginny could barely keep from either vomiting with how nauseated he made her feel or unleashing her patented Bat-Bogey Hex or any number of other disgusting Hexes on him for some idiotic passing comment he made about her family, her other friends, or anyone else for that matter. Still, he wasn't shying away from her, ignoring her, or purposefully insulting her, and she knew she had to take what she could get.
They would converse about books, play endless games of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap, and complete Ginny's chores as a team so that they could get done faster. Ginny would put on make-up and ask his opinion, and Malfoy would pretend like he didn't care one way or the other, but would still tell her how lovely she looked anyway. He would show her some of the more advanced magic that she was missing out on since being out of school. (That, Ginny knew, made Ron especially nervous.) And then, Ginny would drop casual hints about their relationship whenever Ron was in hearing distance, no matter whom she was talking to.
"Oh, he's actually not so bad once you get to know him," she said to Hannah Abbott, one afternoon in mid-May, while Ron lingered in the kitchen. "I've had ample chance, being kept here, you know, and he's actually kind of great."
She barely heard Hannah's response (no doubt some Hufflepuff axiom about loyalty or something) because she was concentrating on the little choking noise that her brother had made upon hearing her thoughts. "Yes," she continued, "Malfoy's sort of my friend, I guess."
Altogether, though, it was getting to be a little bit boring. Ron was showing surprising maturity, no doubt because of Hermione's influences, and hadn't said anything to anyone else yet, as far as Ginny knew. She wasn't even getting suspicious looks from her parents, and that bothered her more than the fact that Harry didn't seem to know anything. So as the days went on, Ginny knew she needed to step up her game a little bit.
She began spending almost every available waking moment with Malfoy, turning down chances to study magic with some of the others in residence and avoiding long and uncomfortable history chats with the Order members who were reliving the glory days of the First Voldemortian War. And while she tried to pretend that she didn't feel it, there was something a little thrilling in it, once the innocent friendship starting turning into something slightly less than innocent, thanks to her amazing acting abilities, of course.
During little chats in the sitting room, she gradually decreased the distance between them, while a pensive Ron tried to pretend he wasn't hanging around the doorway watching them. At dinners, she would insist upon sitting next to him, so that she could whisper secrets in his ear when Ron was trying his best not to watch them. Late at night, she would strongly encourage him to walk her to her bedroom, slipping her small hand into his, delighting in seeing Ron turn all manner of funny colors as he slammed the door to his own bedroom. On his birthday, she'd even managed to knit him a present, a lumpy Weasley jumper of his very own, and when he'd made a face upon opening it, but still said thank you, Ron jumped up out of his seat and dashed out of the room, slamming the kitchen door.
Still, Malfoy was a bit more perceptive than she had originally thought he was, and it made her a bit nervous that he was just going to figure out what she was up to.
"Weasley, come here," he said drowsily, the morning of the fifteenth of June.
They were mostly alone in the house, save for a pair of older Order members somewhere on the first floor and the other two who were on sentry duty, and she was stretched out on the couch in just a bikini, fanning herself with a paper fan she'd folded. Summer had hit England rough, hot, and sweaty, and in spite of the Cooling Charms that were cast in various places around the house, it was still nearly unbearable. It took too much energy to re-cast, anyway, so it was easier to just lay there unmoving and barely clothed.
"Can't move…too hot," she replied.
Malfoy turned his head to her. "Come here, I want to ask you something."
"Noooooo," she whined. "You come here."
"I just want to know why you've started flirting with me now, little girl."
Ginny placed her fan over her face to allow herself a moment to freak out a bit, before she sat up a little so that she could look at him. She cocked her head to the side like a dog and then said, "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."
Malfoy scoffed. "Oh don't play coy with me, Weasley. You can barely talk to me anymore without staring at my lips or touching your face all nervously…and what on earth was with putting your strange, freckly arm around my waist the other day? This isn't normal friendly behavior." With a grunt of effort, he pushed himself up out of the reclining chair and came over to sit on the arm of the couch she was laying on. "Not…" he continued, with a dangerous flash of his eyes, "that I exactly mind the attention."
Eyes widening in genuine surprise at the admission, Ginny sat up fully then. "What?"
"Well," he began, shoving her legs out of the way and sitting down on the couch next to her, "I started thinking about this the other day. You know, when you wouldn't shut up about how everyone wants you to be a Healer and you have absolutely no intention of taking Potions lessons any longer than you have to, so Healing is a no go, and I realized something."
In spite of herself and the heat, Ginny inched closer to him, thinking she had a fairly good idea of where this was going but scarcely daring to hope that it was. "You realized something?" she said, softly.
Malfoy looked at her, and Ginny could swear that the heat in the room had nothing on the heat in his eyes at that moment. She nearly shivered. "I realized," he continued, "while listening to you going on about rubbish that under normal circumstances would cause me to either hit you with a Silencing Charm or leave the room, and the fact that I did neither must mean that…well, that maybe I like you."
Ginny could hardly believe what she had just heard. This was like a dream come true. He had played right into her hands, with almost nothing more than a few sultry glances, a couple conversations that didn't turn into arguments, and the power of suggestion. "What was that, Malfoy?" she asked innocently, barely containing her glee, though he probably had no idea about the real reason for it.
“Maybe I don’t find your company to be a waste of my time?” he modified, with a smirk.
“No, that wasn’t it," Ginny replied, moving around so that she was up on her knees and leaning in towards him. Eyebrows raised appraisingly, she smiled at him, waiting for him to give her confirmation that she was quite possibly the greatest actress in the world.
“Maybe I don’t find you completely worthless.”
“No, no,” she sang, playfully, “I liked it best the first time round. Go on, say it again.”
Malfoy raised an eyebrow and set his lips in a thin line. “Maybe I like you, Weasley.”
Softening a little, as she didn't want to get too carried away and ruin things, Ginny inched forward just a bit. "Why?" she asked.
"Why do I like you?" he replied, distaste with the question evident on his face. "What, you want me to sit here complimenting you now?"
"Why not?" Ginny replied, with a short laugh. "I'd really like to know. I mean, this all seems so…so sudden." She figured it was better to see exactly how things stood so she could be absolutely sure that she had him right where she wanted him.
The distaste on his face melted away then, to be replaced by what looked to be uncertainty on his part, and Ginny felt a strange little twinge in her stomach for the briefest of moments. Unsure of what that could possibly mean, she shook her head a little bit. Maybe it was the heat getting to her. With a sigh, she then looked seriously at him, encouraging him to come out with it.
He didn't seem to want to look at her anymore, as if he was, dare she say it, embarrassed. He wasn't blushing, which was what she did when she was embarrassed, though, so that couldn't be what he was feeling. Still, she did have to admit that she was a tad unnerved by it. Finally, still looking down at his hands in his lap, he spoke. "I don't know, I guess…maybe it is a little sudden, but so was your deciding you wanted to be friends with me so that's no excuse or anything…but I guess, you remind me of someone I knew before things got weird between us. Once you and I started getting to know each other, it felt like how things did with him."
Ginny blanched, dumbstruck. "With him? Malfoy, are you trying to tell me something here?"
Rolling his eyes, he finally looked up at her with pointed disdain. "Let me explain, please. And no, I'm not gay because I'm fairly certain you don't have a cock, unless you're trying to tell me something, Weasley."
"Har, har," she said, sarcastically, though now she couldn't help but be really interested in what he had to say. It was also doing well to keep her from paying the weird feeling in her stomach any real attention. "So, explain."
"Theo Nott used to be my best friend," he began, after a moment of just watching her, likely to be sure that she was actually paying serious attention. "Since we were children, Nott and I were always close. Our parents were…associates, so Theo and I used to spend all this time together, and as we got older it just stayed. Our friendship got stronger throughout school, even though we both sort of went our separate ways - he was always the loner, intellectual type, and I had Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy, but we still made time for each other. We used to talk about all the things that you and I have been discussing - our futures, what we thought about other people in our lives, everything. I swear, I even had a conversation with him once just like that one we had the other day…about who would come to our funerals if we died at thirty." He paused suddenly then and looked over at her. "But things changed after we…after we took the Mark."
Ginny exhaled sharply when he brought up such a forbidden topic of conversation, not even realizing that she'd been holding her breath. "What happened?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Malfoy cast just his eyes at her. "Death Eating really suited him," he said, cryptically.
"Oh." It was all Ginny could find to say. "And it didn't suit you."
"I thought it might, especially after I saw how well Theo took to it…but no, it was not for me. Not at all."
The strange feeling in Ginny's stomach intensified, although she figured it must have had to do with how serious the conversation had just gotten. She hadn't meant to bring it around to this, really. "So…you like me because I remind you of a psycho-Death Eater," she said, slowly, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit.
Thankfully, he smirked at her, though it did take a moment. "Before he went psycho." Then, to her surprise, he leaned into her, and, startled, she fell back so that she was lying down again. Trailing a finger over the sensitive skin of her stomach, he hovered over her. "But, you have a decided advantage over Theodore…"
All thoughts of strange stomach feelings and cunning plans flew out of her mind, as she concentrated on the path his finger was tracing down her skin. "Wh-what's that?" she asked, not even embarrassed with herself over sounding so vulnerable.
"You don't," he said, leaning down to press a soft kiss just below her belly button, "have a cock."
Ginny couldn't help it; she burst into peals of laughter, shaking, she was laughing so hard. She couldn't even think about what this was possibly doing to him because she couldn't process any rational thoughts. Almost cackling with laughter, she reached her hands up to cover her eyes and shook her head. "Oh my God," she managed, between giggles. When she finally did move her hands to look at him again, she saw that he had covered his mouth with his hand, though his eyes looked thoroughly amused and two spots of color appeared high on his cheeks.
"Okay, that did not come out as sexily as I wanted it to," he said, though it was muffled through his hand.
"You don't," Ginny echoed, waggling her eyebrows at him, "have a cock!"
The intensity in his eyes when he looked back at her, though, almost instantly shut her up. Malfoy swooped down on her like a hawk, poising himself above her as if he was going to crush her. She gasped involuntarily and tried to ignore the giddy little thrill that tingled inside of her, with his lips so very close to her own. "That's what I really like about you, Weasley," he said, just barely brushing his lips against hers. "I think you can get as good as you give."
And then he kissed her.
She hadn't really been expecting a kiss at all, but rather just the teasing ghost of one, and she certainly hadn't thought she was going to let herself give in to him so easily. The situation was supposed to be hers to control, but any and all protestations that her rational mind should have been giving her were completely silenced by his unbelievably talented mouth.
His mouth met hers with almost surreal gentleness at first -- one, two, three soft pecks with mildly increasing pressure each time. Then, she felt just the tip of his tongue trespassing inside her mouth, urging her to allow for its entrance. Feeling his warm, sweet breath against her face, she ever-so-slightly parted her lips, and immediately, he slipped his tongue inside her. He slowly licked the inside of her lower lip, eliciting a reflexive moan from somewhere deep inside of her throat.
Malfoy pulled back, much to her chagrin, and she found herself wrapping her arms around his bare back, trying to get him to come close and kiss her again. "I've been waiting for this for an awful long time, little girl." Before she could answer or chide him, he leaned in to kiss her again. More passionate this time, he insistently urged her to allow him access for a deeper kiss. Ginny felt herself shiver, gooseflesh appearing on her skin despite the heat of the room and the heat of the moment, as his tongue plundered her mouth with more force.
Gripping him tightly, and feeling like she no longer had any idea what was going on except for the feeling that this, whatever it was, was amazingly, indescribably, unbelievably good, she massaged her tongue against his own. She was positively delighted when she heard him whimper against her mouth. She decided that this time, she could make him sweat it out a little. "How long?"
With an almost comical grunt of frustration, he opened his eyes and looked down at her. "Beg pardon?"
She bit her lip coyly as she answered. "How long have you been waiting for this?"
Fixing her with a heated stare, he began to drag his hand endlessly up her side, grazing the side of her breast and making her shiver yet again. A wicked smirk graced his lips as he got a response from her yet again. "Since the moment you told me that you didn't trust me," he answered, before dipping his head to taste the hollow of her throat.
Shocked by his admission, Ginny almost didn’t notice that his hand had come to a stop on her breast over the triangle of fabric from her bikini top, lightly kneading the sensitive skin until her nipple pebbled between his fingers. She managed to shakily get out her next question, as she turned her head to give him better access the patch of skin on her neck that he was no doubt leaving his mark upon. "So y-you r-r-really were g-giving me looks when you th-thought n-n-no-no one else could see? OH!" she cried out, as he bit none too gently at the subtle curve before soothing it with his tongue. "Ron wasn't being paranoid?"
The arrogant git snickered at her. "Not at all. I wanted you, Weasley, and surprise, surprise you wanted me too. Who knew that it would only take friendship to make us see that?"
Leave it to him to be condescending even as he had her half-naked and more than a little out of it with desire. However, hearing it did manage to bring Ginny back to her senses and reality. Reminding herself that she was the one who was in control, she was the one who had the upper hand and who had started this whatever-it-was, she reluctantly pushed him up a bit so that she could look at him to see if he was having her on or not.
It was more than a little amusing and also slightly annoying to her to note that she might have been able to get out a whole lot faster if she'd just paid a bit more attention to him, rather than wasting so much time with just antagonizing him. If he'd really wanted her from the moment she'd asserted herself when he'd entered the house, then she could have been out with the rest of the troops months ago, if she'd taken advantage of it!
Ginny looked up at him, trying to ascertain whether or not she had fucked things up royally or if things were still very much within her grasp. They were both panting from exertion (or the heat, more likely, as she didn't really want to believe that she was actually all hot and bothered because of Malfoy, for Merlin's sake), and there was a light sheen of sweat on their bodies. She reached out to trace the trail a bead of sweat had traversed down his torso before landing with a soft drip! on her stomach. "So," she finally said, looking seriously at him, "what now?"
"I have one idea," he said, almost too quickly, and Ginny had to stifle a laugh. Boys were so incredibly predictable. It was then clear to her that she had absolutely done her job to the best of her ability; he was wrapped right around her finger. She was going to be out of that house in no time.
Shaking her head, softly, she cast her gaze down almost shyly. "No, no, it's too soon for that. Way too fast. We need to, yes, we need to slow down a bit. Weren't you just complaining about things being so sudden? We need some time…take a step back…think things through, I think," she said, before looking back up at him with a smile. "Don't you think?"
He surprised her then, by sitting up fully and running a hand through his now disheveled hair. "Yeah, yes, you're right. You're totally right. I'd say 'what was I thinking?' except I know I wasn't thinking anything at all." Malfoy got up and nearly tripped over himself in his haste to get to the door, trying to hide his almost painfully obvious response to what they'd been doing as best he could. "I'm going to take a shower now, but…we'll talk about this some more later. Yes? Good. All right." He was out the door before she could even get a word in.
Ginny watched him go before she finally sat up in a rush. Dizzily, she clutched at her head, as the blood rushed back down into her body. All manner of thoughts and feelings were rushing through her, so many that she could hardly separate and recognize any of them. She stood up and started out of the sitting room to go into her bedroom to sate the desire that had pooled in her lower belly. Even if it was Malfoy, it had still felt really, amazingly good, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it. As she walked, an almost giddy smile was plastered onto her face. She had done it; she had made him fall for her. Now all she had to do was make everyone else see it.
( The Best Laid Plans 2/2 )
ORIGINAL REQUEST:
What would you like to receive:
The tone/mood of the fic: Dark/ morbid humor, coming-of-age, some romance but not just fluff. A reason why they are together beyond "I think he can be a better person." It can be that he is taking advantage of a rule she broke, she desperately needs someone to make herself feel vindicated about disliking herself or she truly is escaping Potter. Just as long as there is a reason for them to be together and that it is believable. I want a story, not just sex.
Rating of the the fic you want: Preferably NC-17 however I am willing to accept lesser ratings as long as there is mention of sexual activities, detail is appreciated but not required if sex scenes are written.
Canon or AU? As much canon as can be used, but veering into AU is acceptable. I.E.- They did meet the first time in Flourish and Blotts (canon), he teased her because he was wildly attracted to her (AU).
Deal Breakers (what don't you want?): Needless spells that do everything. No "refresher" spells that clean you up. I don't even want a pregnancy spell, make them use a potion or even better a condom. No "banishment spells" to make everything look clean unless the stuff goes somewhere. Magic is a tool they have but it is not an end-all, be-all.
Rating: NC-17
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Post-HBP. Smut.
Summary: Ginny wants out of the sanctuary that has been forced upon her, and by using a bit of cunning and an unsuspecting Draco Malfoy, she intends to get herself out. But things change and so do people. Will she flourish or will she fail, and why does sex have to complicate everything?
Note: Many, many thanks to my three betas: seegrim, fallenwitch, and bela.
The Best Laid Plans 1/2
Ginny roughly tossed dish after dish into the kitchen sink, finding an inordinate amount of joy in the way the well-used china clinked and chipped with her fury. In the very back of her mind, she knew that she was only going to get yelled at later, but her righteous anger only allowed her to continue mercilessly abusing the plates.
She also couldn't help but keep replaying the argument she'd had with Harry and the others earlier in the day over and over until she was almost positive that she'd memorized everything down to the exact placement of Harry's hair over his scar when he'd vehemently shaken his head at her. Of course, it was essentially the same argument that they'd all been having since they had all been forced into the cramped, but safe, Order headquarters - the newly-restored home of Harry's parents in Godric's Hollow - and it simply boiled down to: "Ginny, you're just too young for this -- it's too dangerous out there for you." Ginny found their reasoning to be complete and utter rubbish, as she was more than capable of handling herself in a fight against Death Eaters, and besides, didn't they need every available person to overtake Voldemort's army?
Ginny let out a frustrated sigh, shoving a careless, dish-soapy hand through her hair, before tossing another dish with more force than necessary into the rack for herself to dry later. The whole thing just simply wasn't fair. Hell, Ron got to go out and fight, and he'd nearly died earlier in the year in an attempt on the former Headmaster's life! The inequity of it all just made Ginny seethe with anger and -
"Honestly, Weasley, I can hear you banging away in here from the attic."
And him! In addition to the myriad problems Ginny had in her life at the moment, he had to fucking show up in the kitchen to make them ten times worse with his incredibly unwanted presence.
Whirling around at the sink, Ginny faced him, a dirty spatula with that morning's leftover eggs over-easy on it in one hand and the other gripping the counter's edge for support. "What of it, Death Eater?" she spat, and somewhere very, very deep inside, she grinned at herself for being so witty on the fly like that.
Rolling his ice-gray eyes at her, Draco Malfoy sighed dramatically. "Your wit astounds, little girl," he commented, but before Ginny could come up with a proper retort, he turned on his heels and left the kitchen in a flurry of robes.
The redhead's mouth dropped open. How dare he! How dare he just come in here like that, call her a little girl, and then walk away before she could defend herself? Obviously, his quip called for her to set down the dishware and march up to the attic to finish what he'd started. Of course, Ginny was itching for a fight, and had it been anyone else, she still would have ran off to mess with them, but the fact that it was Malfoy had just iced the proverbial cake, in her eyes.
The arrogant blond had rather surprised them all when he'd first shown up on the doorstep of the headquarters, a stunned Nagini-shaped Horcrux wrapped around his shoulders, and a confession on his lips that he had simply chosen wrongly, that Death Eating was not for him, and with his poor mother now dead by the hands of the very man who'd promised to keep her safe, he no longer had an excuse to stick around.
That was another night that Ginny could remember in explicit, almost photographic detail, and it was another of the things she often thought about whenever she was doing the chores that had been delegated to her.
It was pouring rain, and Professor Lupin and Auror Shacklebolt were on sentry duty, but Harry had first spotted the intruder in one of his now-infamous nightmares. He practically fell down the stairs and landed in an ungraceful heap at the bottom, clutching his scar and screaming. It was obvious that Voldemort was extremely angry about something, and once they were finally able to calm Harry down, he said that the Dark Lord was angry because he'd been betrayed.
Malfoy managed to breach the wards that were designed to keep out anyone with malicious intent not an hour later. The snake was draped almost artfully around his thinner-than-usual frame, the torrential rain had plastered his white-blond hair to his forehead, and his eyes carried just a hint of desperation in them. He was clutching at the doorframe to keep himself upright. It was certainly a wake-up call to most of the people who'd known him that something had obviously changed, especially to Harry, who immediately dragged his schoolboy rival into another room to conference with him.
Ginny sat outside the door of the room, desperately resisting the urge to run and get a pair of Extendable Ears, for almost two hours before the two of them finally emerged. Harry announced to everyone that Malfoy had indeed brought them a Horcrux and that the former Death Eater was to be trusted. He then dashed off, beckoning to Hermione, Ron, and Lupin as he did so, most likely to get to work on destroying the Horcrux, and left Draco to remain under the scrutiny of those still in the hall.
One by one, they dissipated, murmuring to themselves about what had just happened, but Ginny stayed. She wasn't about to just let this go. "I don't trust you," she said, once they had all gone, leaving the two of them alone.
"I don't care," he said, distractedly, as his eyes darted up and down the hall. He had the odd stance of a cornered animal, as if he feared someone was going to come up any second and snatch him away.
Ginny's eyes narrowed, but she kept her distance from him. "I mean it. You don't belong here; I don't care what anyone else says."
After a long moment of silence, he finally looked her straight in the eyes. "Finally moved on from the Boy Wonder, then, have you?" he said archly, quirking an eyebrow.
Pursing her lips, Ginny made a brief attempt to keep her temper in check because it wouldn't do to have Bat-Bogeys flying around the room (because she'd likely be forced to clean up the mess later) before she answered him. "Shut up," she managed to say through gritted teeth. "I'm not a blind follower…not of anyone."
He smirked, infuriating her. "Whatever you say," he replied tantalizingly. Then, he started off down the hallway and disappeared up the stairs towards the attic, leaving Ginny alone.
It hadn't occurred to Ginny until much later that she and Malfoy were now quite thoroughly in the same boat. She couldn't leave the Headquarters because they wouldn't let her, and he couldn't leave the Headquarters because he'd immediately draw the attention of Death Eaters. It was a sanctuary, in a way, but to Ginny it felt like a prison. The only bright spots she found were making unnecessary noise and tormenting Malfoy whenever she got the chance.
So she couldn't help the little grin that appeared on her face as she climbed the stairs to the attic to continue their spat. Sure, it was a little silly, but she didn't want to go back to doing the dishes. She could only do so much pointless housework and laundry and cooking before she started feeling like throwing herself off the balcony.
As she reached the second floor landing, Ginny heard voices coming from one of the bedrooms, and, despite the fact that she was eager to get up to Malfoy to unload on him, her curiosity got the better of her. It wasn't often that someone forgot to put an Imperturbable Charm on a door these days. She tiptoed stealthily up to the door and pressed her ear against it. The voices were muffled, but she could still make out what they were saying.
"I just don't like it," a familiar boy's voice said. "I don't like the way he looks at her."
A small smirk twisted onto Ginny's lips, as she pressed her ear tighter to the door, wishing that there was a way to see inside.
"He doesn't look at her any differently than he looks at anyone else in this house, Ronald," Hermione chided him, her characteristically bossy voice obvious to Ginny even through the door.
"Yes, he does, and I don't like it. It makes me nervous when she's here with him," Ron replied, and Ginny could just imagine him pacing back and forth in front of the bed.
"You're being silly. Harry said we could trust Malfoy, and so I trust him. I may not like him, and Lord knows I probably never will, but he's obviously trustworthy or he never would have been able to get in here in the first place, and Harry certainly wouldn't have allowed him to stay."
Ginny's mouth dropped open. How fortuitous that she should stumble upon this conversation, of all the conversations that were potentially going on around the house at any given time! First of all, she could probably get a little more ammunition for the fight she still firmly intended on finishing with Malfoy, and secondly, she would have some other dramatic thing to think over when she got bored. She was wondering just who it was that Malfoy was looking at that had Ron's knickers in such a twist.
"And no offense to you, but we all know he doesn't like you or your family, so why would he treat Ginny any differently than the rest of you?" Hermione continued, after a silence.
Ginny's knee-jerk reaction was to be insulted at Hermione's insinuation, but after a moment of bristling, a wide grin spread across her freckled face, as she realized just what this meant. Her big brother was afraid to leave her alone in the house with the scary former Death Eater because of the way he apparently looked at her when he thought no one else could see.
Not particularly interested in the behind-closed-doors conversation anymore, as her mind was too busy whirring to life and processing what she'd heard, Ginny stepped back from the door and began to walk back to the staircase to continue going up the stairs. Halfway up, though, she stopped and took a seat on the step she'd been standing on. She'd had an epiphany.
If it was Ron's biggest fear that something was going to happen between herself and Malfoy when no one was home to witness it, wouldn't that be just the impetus needed in order to get herself out? Malfoy couldn't very well touch her if she wasn't there, now could he? Then she would finally be able to convince the lot of them that she was better off out there with them; she'd only really need one shot to prove to them that she was capable of handling herself in battle.
She'd have to be careful, she knew. Ron was prone to blowing things out of proportion, as Hermione was well aware of, so Ginny knew that the others would likely think he was just overreacting again if she didn't play her cards just right. But if she could get proof somehow, if she could play up whatever tiny, insignificant thing had happened to make Ron think that some kind of Draco/Ginny conspiracy was going on behind his back, perhaps they would all start to think that she shouldn't be left behind when they all went out. It might mean going against her very strong beliefs that Malfoy was some kind of demon spawn sent with the express purpose of making her angry, by making nice with him. It might even mean attempting to, dare she even imagine it, elicit some sort of response out of him right out in the open where everyone could see just how in danger of being seduced by him she was.
Yet, Ginny thought, it all seems worth it. If she could break out of her elder-imposed prison using a bit of cunning - it wasn't just a Slytherin thing, really - it would be worth getting her hands a little dirty.
The argument with Malfoy all but forgotten, Ginny headed back down the stairs to go to the bedroom she was sharing with Hermione and the Patil twins. She flopped ungracefully onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. With a smile, Ginny began to formulate a plan that would get her out, no matter what it took.
--- --- --- ---
It began innocently enough. Ginny would spare Malfoy a glance here and there that wasn't overtly hostile. She would quite politely pass him the butter or the salt when he asked for them without adding in a smart-alecky comment. She would see him in the hallway and nod a greeting instead of sneering one.
It was fairly slow-going because Ginny knew that if she were to just run up and snog him in the middle of breakfast out of nowhere, they would think she was just looking for a fight. Yet, after a few weeks of innocent behavior, she began to see snippets of reciprocation from the blond git. One morning after passing him the plate of bacon, he responded with a barely audible "thank you." When she quite accidentally-on-purpose dropped a book she'd been carrying in front of him, he bent to pick it up and handed it to her without making a comment about clumsiness.
The little moments might have seemed insignificant to most of the house, much to Ginny's disappointment, but they were having an affect on Ron. She saw the nervous glances that he'd give her after every little encounter and the barely-concealed hostility he afforded Malfoy if the latter happened to pay him more than just a passing glance. It willed her to keep going because Ginny knew that if she could get Ron to crack and explode on her in front of everyone, rather than just unloading his suspicions on Hermione in the privacy of his bedroom, the rest of the house would have to sit up and pay attention because Ron wouldn't let them just ignore it.
Much to her delight, Ginny got a big break one afternoon when she was stuck in the house, as per usual. Most of the others were out, either at St. Mungo's or Terry Boot's makeshift Potions Centre for research, Hogwarts for defensive training, or simply on patrol of the many busy wizarding streets. The only people around the house were herself, Malfoy somewhere, and the two sentries at the door.
Eyeing herself in the mirror above the bureau in her bedroom, Ginny picked up the kohl eyeliner that she'd filched from amongst Parvati's belongings. She hadn't particularly been surprised to see it there, as some habits were harder to break than others, and in fact, she'd actually been grateful to find some vestige of normality in an otherwise very abnormal situation. She had gone around to the different girls' rooms, borrowing whatever she felt like, and ended up with quite a collection of makeup and hair products. The redhead then set to fixing herself up, if for no other reason than she hadn't anything better to do since everyone was away.
It wasn't until after her eyes had been lightly lined and shadowed (with the golden brown shadow from Cho Chang) and her cheeks faintly flushed with blusher (tossed carelessly in a bag in the room shared by Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet) that she noticed she wasn't alone in the room any longer. Rose-colored lipstick (from Tonks, of all people) paused on its way to her lips as she noticed in the mirror a figure standing behind her, leaning casually in the doorway as if he wasn't totally entranced by the display.
"Is there something you wanted?" Ginny asked, deciding to play it cool and not give away the fact that her heart had nearly leapt into her throat from fright.
If he had been startled by her question, Ginny couldn't tell from the way he strolled into her room as if he owned the place. However, he didn't answer her; he walked into the room and took a seat on Padma's bed, keeping his gray as steel eyes on her the entire time, as if he was daring her to say something.
Rather than feeling unnerved, Ginny felt herself getting rather angry at having been intruded upon, especially when she couldn’t very well make the most of the opportunity since there was no one around to witness it. However, she was determined not to undo any of the progress she'd made in the last few weeks, so she was forced to keep her temper at bay. "What is it?" she then asked, as nicely as she could manage.
"What are you doing?" he asked back, barely letting her finish speaking.
Ginny couldn't tell if he meant it as a loaded question or not, although he probably didn't, considering how obviously unintelligent he was. She turned back to continue applying her make-up but kept her eyes on him through the mirror. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"You're putting on make-up, obviously," he drawled, condescendingly, "but for what purpose? There's no one here, but me. Although…"
Imperceptibly stiffening, Ginny paused in her application. "Although…what?" she responded airily.
"I'm trying to figure out what this sudden change of heart is all about, Weasley," he replied, an ugly little smirk coming to his lips.
Ginny fought the urge to dash over and rip it right off his smart little face. How dare he figure her out like that? It was ridiculous; he was supposed to be completely dazzled by her charm and subtlety. He was not supposed to call her out on her change in behavior. She decided, however, to go against her better judgment and continue playing like nothing had happened at all. "I don't know what you mean, Malfoy," she replied, setting down the lipstick and swiveling in her chair. "Change of heart?"
"Weasley," he began, getting up and walking over to her to stand over her as if it would intimidate her, "I haven't seen so much as an eye roll from you towards me in almost three weeks now. What gives?"
Ginny's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "What has that got to do with anything?"
Malfoy's smirk seemed even uglier up close. "You've treated me with nothing but contempt since I got here, and now all of a sudden, nothing. I want to know why. It doesn't fit your pattern, little girl, and I'm curious about the sudden deviation," he said.
"I'm NOT a little girl, Malfoy," Ginny spat, focusing on the slight rather than his astute observation of her behavior.
He snickered at her then, and it occurred to Ginny that he was actually enjoying this! He was getting a rise out of her, which was exactly what he wanted, or he wouldn't have come in the room in the first place (obviously!). She became determined not to blow all the good work she'd done by letting her temper get the best of her and unleashing it upon him. Even if it meant going against her better judgment - hexing the hell out of him and sending him on his way - she was not going to let him spoil her chance to get out by being a stupid arse.
She sighed softly and resignedly turned back to the mirror. She fussed with her hair for a moment, still keeping her eyes on his. "I don't know, maybe I just got tired of fighting with you," she continued lightly.
To her delight, Malfoy seemed taken aback by her honesty or the softness of her answer or any number of things. "You…you got tired of it?" he asked, incredulously, after a moment.
Ginny smiled at him in the mirror, though inwardly she was smiling because she felt she had successfully dodged a bullet. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, there's only so many different ways to call you a git before I start repeating myself, and I don't like to repeat material. It's boring." She couldn't help but giggle a little then at herself.
"Tired of it," he repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, tired of it." Ginny nodded firmly to emphasize her point, before picking up the lipstick again and beginning to apply it. After she had applied, blotted, and made a kissing face at herself in the mirror, she finally turned around again and faced Malfoy with a smile. "How do I look?" she asked innocently.
"You look pretty." Malfoy blanched then, as if she had caught him off-guard and he hadn't meant to say anything of the sort. "I mean, you don't look like a pile of dragon dung," he quickly amended.
Ginny was a little surprised, not by his rude comment, but by the honest one he'd given first. She turned her head to give herself another little once-over, and while she did have to admit that she looked pretty, she didn't think that he'd be someone to appreciate it, aesthetically or otherwise; he did once date Pansy Parkinson, after all.
"Thank you," she responded. I wonder if Harry or anyone else will even notice, she thought meanly to herself then; it brought her plan of action rushing back to the forefront of her mind. "So," she began again, returning to the business at hand, "we've established that I'm not going to be picking fights with you anymore. Are you going to keep trying to start things with me?"
It took him a moment to answer, but finally he was looking down at her with his normal condescension right back on his pointed, ferrety face. "I give this niceness thing a week, tops, before you're back to being the horrid little bint that you actually are," he drawled, snottily.
Anger flared to life within Ginny, but she knew that she was so close to a breakthrough, so she managed to restrain herself from hexing the snot out of him, but only just barely. "Look, I really am tired of the fighting. What's the point anymore? It's not doing anything productive! Merlin, it's like we're sodding lepers or something. We can't go out and help, but there isn't anything we can really do to help in here, either!" She paused for a moment, letting her words sink in before continuing. "I'll admit that fighting with you was really fun for a while, but it just isn't anymore. We're both in the same boat here - stuck. Why do we need to keep at each other's goats, instead of just accepting the fact that we're stuck here together?" She exhaled sharply, then, from the force of her words. After a moment, she looked up at him, straight in the eyes and added, "And you know something, Malfoy? I think we could even be…friends."
The last word of her little speech very nearly made Ginny gag, but seeing the expression on his face made it seem worth it. He looked to be turning over her proposal in his head, and Ginny could hardly bear the suspense. "Friends?" he echoed, looking at her and considering the idea.
"Yes, I know the concept is a bit difficult, what with never having had any and all, but a friend is a person who you sort of hang about with and chat with and what have you," she replied, keeping her tone innocent and teasing, but really meaning every word of it. "What do you say?"
For a moment, she almost thought he was going to storm out of the room and regretted having brandished her particular brand of humor before she'd gotten confirmation that he was receptive to it, but then he looked up at her and his face twisted into something she had never in her entire sixteen years seen before on him.
"We can't be friends, Weasley. You seem to have forgotten that I hate you and the rest of your red-headed band of merry fools," he replied, with a smile.
Ginny fixated on his smile, unable to draw her eyes away from this anomaly, even as she answered him. "You can't put that aside for awhile until the war is over? I can…wow, I must be a bigger person than you."
The jibe did as it intended, though it did chase his smile away. "I do apologize if I can't get past years and years of hatred in just a moment," he said, but his words carried just the barest hint of amusement that Ginny latched onto like a life preserver in the middle of the ocean.
"Malfoys actually know the words 'I apologize'?" she teased. "This has already been the most interesting day I've had here, if only because of that little revelation." When he didn't immediately dash out of the room, but rather sniffed an amused little laugh, Ginny almost couldn't believe her good fortune. He was falling for it hook, line, and sinker. "So what do you say?" she continued. "Friends, you and me?"
Malfoy looked at her for a long moment, and finally, he extended his hand to her to be shaken. "All right, Weasley, I suppose we have a deal."
Ginny scoffed, but reached out her hand to shake his firmly. "Yes, leave it to you to make something as simple as a friendship sound like a sodding business transaction." Though, Ginny could very well appreciate the irony that Malfoy actually was, in a sense, completing a transaction despite being completely unaware of it. He had a role to play in her little game, and he could now fulfill it that much easier.
"So what exactly is this friendship going to entail," he began, not yet letting go of her hand, "besides hanging about and chatting with one another?"
"I don't know exactly," she mimicked, cheerfully. "Why don't we just take it as it comes and see?"
Slowly letting her hand fall away from his, Malfoy considered her, lightly frowning. "I like plans, Weasley. I don't like to fly by the seat of my trousers, it's dangerous."
I like plans too, Malfoy, she thought to herself, but gave nothing away on her face. "Trust me, it'll be fun," she replied, aloud, with a grin. "It'll be fun."
--- --- --- ---
Ginny was almost amazed at how easy it was to become friends with Draco Malfoy. Perhaps she had been right about his not ever having any real friends, in light of the eagerness with which he took to befriending her, or perhaps he was itching for benevolent human contact as opposed to the veiled hostility that seemed to pervade everyone's behavior towards him, in spite of Harry's repeated reminders that he was to be trusted. Whatever the reason, though, Ginny absolutely relished in it, as he was making it almost too easy to make Ron realize his suspicions had truth to them, which was only bringing her closer and closer to her goal of freedom.
Of course, he was still generally as vile and unpleasant, as was his very annoying nature, and every moment she spent with him, Ginny could barely keep from either vomiting with how nauseated he made her feel or unleashing her patented Bat-Bogey Hex or any number of other disgusting Hexes on him for some idiotic passing comment he made about her family, her other friends, or anyone else for that matter. Still, he wasn't shying away from her, ignoring her, or purposefully insulting her, and she knew she had to take what she could get.
They would converse about books, play endless games of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap, and complete Ginny's chores as a team so that they could get done faster. Ginny would put on make-up and ask his opinion, and Malfoy would pretend like he didn't care one way or the other, but would still tell her how lovely she looked anyway. He would show her some of the more advanced magic that she was missing out on since being out of school. (That, Ginny knew, made Ron especially nervous.) And then, Ginny would drop casual hints about their relationship whenever Ron was in hearing distance, no matter whom she was talking to.
"Oh, he's actually not so bad once you get to know him," she said to Hannah Abbott, one afternoon in mid-May, while Ron lingered in the kitchen. "I've had ample chance, being kept here, you know, and he's actually kind of great."
She barely heard Hannah's response (no doubt some Hufflepuff axiom about loyalty or something) because she was concentrating on the little choking noise that her brother had made upon hearing her thoughts. "Yes," she continued, "Malfoy's sort of my friend, I guess."
Altogether, though, it was getting to be a little bit boring. Ron was showing surprising maturity, no doubt because of Hermione's influences, and hadn't said anything to anyone else yet, as far as Ginny knew. She wasn't even getting suspicious looks from her parents, and that bothered her more than the fact that Harry didn't seem to know anything. So as the days went on, Ginny knew she needed to step up her game a little bit.
She began spending almost every available waking moment with Malfoy, turning down chances to study magic with some of the others in residence and avoiding long and uncomfortable history chats with the Order members who were reliving the glory days of the First Voldemortian War. And while she tried to pretend that she didn't feel it, there was something a little thrilling in it, once the innocent friendship starting turning into something slightly less than innocent, thanks to her amazing acting abilities, of course.
During little chats in the sitting room, she gradually decreased the distance between them, while a pensive Ron tried to pretend he wasn't hanging around the doorway watching them. At dinners, she would insist upon sitting next to him, so that she could whisper secrets in his ear when Ron was trying his best not to watch them. Late at night, she would strongly encourage him to walk her to her bedroom, slipping her small hand into his, delighting in seeing Ron turn all manner of funny colors as he slammed the door to his own bedroom. On his birthday, she'd even managed to knit him a present, a lumpy Weasley jumper of his very own, and when he'd made a face upon opening it, but still said thank you, Ron jumped up out of his seat and dashed out of the room, slamming the kitchen door.
Still, Malfoy was a bit more perceptive than she had originally thought he was, and it made her a bit nervous that he was just going to figure out what she was up to.
"Weasley, come here," he said drowsily, the morning of the fifteenth of June.
They were mostly alone in the house, save for a pair of older Order members somewhere on the first floor and the other two who were on sentry duty, and she was stretched out on the couch in just a bikini, fanning herself with a paper fan she'd folded. Summer had hit England rough, hot, and sweaty, and in spite of the Cooling Charms that were cast in various places around the house, it was still nearly unbearable. It took too much energy to re-cast, anyway, so it was easier to just lay there unmoving and barely clothed.
"Can't move…too hot," she replied.
Malfoy turned his head to her. "Come here, I want to ask you something."
"Noooooo," she whined. "You come here."
"I just want to know why you've started flirting with me now, little girl."
Ginny placed her fan over her face to allow herself a moment to freak out a bit, before she sat up a little so that she could look at him. She cocked her head to the side like a dog and then said, "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."
Malfoy scoffed. "Oh don't play coy with me, Weasley. You can barely talk to me anymore without staring at my lips or touching your face all nervously…and what on earth was with putting your strange, freckly arm around my waist the other day? This isn't normal friendly behavior." With a grunt of effort, he pushed himself up out of the reclining chair and came over to sit on the arm of the couch she was laying on. "Not…" he continued, with a dangerous flash of his eyes, "that I exactly mind the attention."
Eyes widening in genuine surprise at the admission, Ginny sat up fully then. "What?"
"Well," he began, shoving her legs out of the way and sitting down on the couch next to her, "I started thinking about this the other day. You know, when you wouldn't shut up about how everyone wants you to be a Healer and you have absolutely no intention of taking Potions lessons any longer than you have to, so Healing is a no go, and I realized something."
In spite of herself and the heat, Ginny inched closer to him, thinking she had a fairly good idea of where this was going but scarcely daring to hope that it was. "You realized something?" she said, softly.
Malfoy looked at her, and Ginny could swear that the heat in the room had nothing on the heat in his eyes at that moment. She nearly shivered. "I realized," he continued, "while listening to you going on about rubbish that under normal circumstances would cause me to either hit you with a Silencing Charm or leave the room, and the fact that I did neither must mean that…well, that maybe I like you."
Ginny could hardly believe what she had just heard. This was like a dream come true. He had played right into her hands, with almost nothing more than a few sultry glances, a couple conversations that didn't turn into arguments, and the power of suggestion. "What was that, Malfoy?" she asked innocently, barely containing her glee, though he probably had no idea about the real reason for it.
“Maybe I don’t find your company to be a waste of my time?” he modified, with a smirk.
“No, that wasn’t it," Ginny replied, moving around so that she was up on her knees and leaning in towards him. Eyebrows raised appraisingly, she smiled at him, waiting for him to give her confirmation that she was quite possibly the greatest actress in the world.
“Maybe I don’t find you completely worthless.”
“No, no,” she sang, playfully, “I liked it best the first time round. Go on, say it again.”
Malfoy raised an eyebrow and set his lips in a thin line. “Maybe I like you, Weasley.”
Softening a little, as she didn't want to get too carried away and ruin things, Ginny inched forward just a bit. "Why?" she asked.
"Why do I like you?" he replied, distaste with the question evident on his face. "What, you want me to sit here complimenting you now?"
"Why not?" Ginny replied, with a short laugh. "I'd really like to know. I mean, this all seems so…so sudden." She figured it was better to see exactly how things stood so she could be absolutely sure that she had him right where she wanted him.
The distaste on his face melted away then, to be replaced by what looked to be uncertainty on his part, and Ginny felt a strange little twinge in her stomach for the briefest of moments. Unsure of what that could possibly mean, she shook her head a little bit. Maybe it was the heat getting to her. With a sigh, she then looked seriously at him, encouraging him to come out with it.
He didn't seem to want to look at her anymore, as if he was, dare she say it, embarrassed. He wasn't blushing, which was what she did when she was embarrassed, though, so that couldn't be what he was feeling. Still, she did have to admit that she was a tad unnerved by it. Finally, still looking down at his hands in his lap, he spoke. "I don't know, I guess…maybe it is a little sudden, but so was your deciding you wanted to be friends with me so that's no excuse or anything…but I guess, you remind me of someone I knew before things got weird between us. Once you and I started getting to know each other, it felt like how things did with him."
Ginny blanched, dumbstruck. "With him? Malfoy, are you trying to tell me something here?"
Rolling his eyes, he finally looked up at her with pointed disdain. "Let me explain, please. And no, I'm not gay because I'm fairly certain you don't have a cock, unless you're trying to tell me something, Weasley."
"Har, har," she said, sarcastically, though now she couldn't help but be really interested in what he had to say. It was also doing well to keep her from paying the weird feeling in her stomach any real attention. "So, explain."
"Theo Nott used to be my best friend," he began, after a moment of just watching her, likely to be sure that she was actually paying serious attention. "Since we were children, Nott and I were always close. Our parents were…associates, so Theo and I used to spend all this time together, and as we got older it just stayed. Our friendship got stronger throughout school, even though we both sort of went our separate ways - he was always the loner, intellectual type, and I had Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy, but we still made time for each other. We used to talk about all the things that you and I have been discussing - our futures, what we thought about other people in our lives, everything. I swear, I even had a conversation with him once just like that one we had the other day…about who would come to our funerals if we died at thirty." He paused suddenly then and looked over at her. "But things changed after we…after we took the Mark."
Ginny exhaled sharply when he brought up such a forbidden topic of conversation, not even realizing that she'd been holding her breath. "What happened?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Malfoy cast just his eyes at her. "Death Eating really suited him," he said, cryptically.
"Oh." It was all Ginny could find to say. "And it didn't suit you."
"I thought it might, especially after I saw how well Theo took to it…but no, it was not for me. Not at all."
The strange feeling in Ginny's stomach intensified, although she figured it must have had to do with how serious the conversation had just gotten. She hadn't meant to bring it around to this, really. "So…you like me because I remind you of a psycho-Death Eater," she said, slowly, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit.
Thankfully, he smirked at her, though it did take a moment. "Before he went psycho." Then, to her surprise, he leaned into her, and, startled, she fell back so that she was lying down again. Trailing a finger over the sensitive skin of her stomach, he hovered over her. "But, you have a decided advantage over Theodore…"
All thoughts of strange stomach feelings and cunning plans flew out of her mind, as she concentrated on the path his finger was tracing down her skin. "Wh-what's that?" she asked, not even embarrassed with herself over sounding so vulnerable.
"You don't," he said, leaning down to press a soft kiss just below her belly button, "have a cock."
Ginny couldn't help it; she burst into peals of laughter, shaking, she was laughing so hard. She couldn't even think about what this was possibly doing to him because she couldn't process any rational thoughts. Almost cackling with laughter, she reached her hands up to cover her eyes and shook her head. "Oh my God," she managed, between giggles. When she finally did move her hands to look at him again, she saw that he had covered his mouth with his hand, though his eyes looked thoroughly amused and two spots of color appeared high on his cheeks.
"Okay, that did not come out as sexily as I wanted it to," he said, though it was muffled through his hand.
"You don't," Ginny echoed, waggling her eyebrows at him, "have a cock!"
The intensity in his eyes when he looked back at her, though, almost instantly shut her up. Malfoy swooped down on her like a hawk, poising himself above her as if he was going to crush her. She gasped involuntarily and tried to ignore the giddy little thrill that tingled inside of her, with his lips so very close to her own. "That's what I really like about you, Weasley," he said, just barely brushing his lips against hers. "I think you can get as good as you give."
And then he kissed her.
She hadn't really been expecting a kiss at all, but rather just the teasing ghost of one, and she certainly hadn't thought she was going to let herself give in to him so easily. The situation was supposed to be hers to control, but any and all protestations that her rational mind should have been giving her were completely silenced by his unbelievably talented mouth.
His mouth met hers with almost surreal gentleness at first -- one, two, three soft pecks with mildly increasing pressure each time. Then, she felt just the tip of his tongue trespassing inside her mouth, urging her to allow for its entrance. Feeling his warm, sweet breath against her face, she ever-so-slightly parted her lips, and immediately, he slipped his tongue inside her. He slowly licked the inside of her lower lip, eliciting a reflexive moan from somewhere deep inside of her throat.
Malfoy pulled back, much to her chagrin, and she found herself wrapping her arms around his bare back, trying to get him to come close and kiss her again. "I've been waiting for this for an awful long time, little girl." Before she could answer or chide him, he leaned in to kiss her again. More passionate this time, he insistently urged her to allow him access for a deeper kiss. Ginny felt herself shiver, gooseflesh appearing on her skin despite the heat of the room and the heat of the moment, as his tongue plundered her mouth with more force.
Gripping him tightly, and feeling like she no longer had any idea what was going on except for the feeling that this, whatever it was, was amazingly, indescribably, unbelievably good, she massaged her tongue against his own. She was positively delighted when she heard him whimper against her mouth. She decided that this time, she could make him sweat it out a little. "How long?"
With an almost comical grunt of frustration, he opened his eyes and looked down at her. "Beg pardon?"
She bit her lip coyly as she answered. "How long have you been waiting for this?"
Fixing her with a heated stare, he began to drag his hand endlessly up her side, grazing the side of her breast and making her shiver yet again. A wicked smirk graced his lips as he got a response from her yet again. "Since the moment you told me that you didn't trust me," he answered, before dipping his head to taste the hollow of her throat.
Shocked by his admission, Ginny almost didn’t notice that his hand had come to a stop on her breast over the triangle of fabric from her bikini top, lightly kneading the sensitive skin until her nipple pebbled between his fingers. She managed to shakily get out her next question, as she turned her head to give him better access the patch of skin on her neck that he was no doubt leaving his mark upon. "So y-you r-r-really were g-giving me looks when you th-thought n-n-no-no one else could see? OH!" she cried out, as he bit none too gently at the subtle curve before soothing it with his tongue. "Ron wasn't being paranoid?"
The arrogant git snickered at her. "Not at all. I wanted you, Weasley, and surprise, surprise you wanted me too. Who knew that it would only take friendship to make us see that?"
Leave it to him to be condescending even as he had her half-naked and more than a little out of it with desire. However, hearing it did manage to bring Ginny back to her senses and reality. Reminding herself that she was the one who was in control, she was the one who had the upper hand and who had started this whatever-it-was, she reluctantly pushed him up a bit so that she could look at him to see if he was having her on or not.
It was more than a little amusing and also slightly annoying to her to note that she might have been able to get out a whole lot faster if she'd just paid a bit more attention to him, rather than wasting so much time with just antagonizing him. If he'd really wanted her from the moment she'd asserted herself when he'd entered the house, then she could have been out with the rest of the troops months ago, if she'd taken advantage of it!
Ginny looked up at him, trying to ascertain whether or not she had fucked things up royally or if things were still very much within her grasp. They were both panting from exertion (or the heat, more likely, as she didn't really want to believe that she was actually all hot and bothered because of Malfoy, for Merlin's sake), and there was a light sheen of sweat on their bodies. She reached out to trace the trail a bead of sweat had traversed down his torso before landing with a soft drip! on her stomach. "So," she finally said, looking seriously at him, "what now?"
"I have one idea," he said, almost too quickly, and Ginny had to stifle a laugh. Boys were so incredibly predictable. It was then clear to her that she had absolutely done her job to the best of her ability; he was wrapped right around her finger. She was going to be out of that house in no time.
Shaking her head, softly, she cast her gaze down almost shyly. "No, no, it's too soon for that. Way too fast. We need to, yes, we need to slow down a bit. Weren't you just complaining about things being so sudden? We need some time…take a step back…think things through, I think," she said, before looking back up at him with a smile. "Don't you think?"
He surprised her then, by sitting up fully and running a hand through his now disheveled hair. "Yeah, yes, you're right. You're totally right. I'd say 'what was I thinking?' except I know I wasn't thinking anything at all." Malfoy got up and nearly tripped over himself in his haste to get to the door, trying to hide his almost painfully obvious response to what they'd been doing as best he could. "I'm going to take a shower now, but…we'll talk about this some more later. Yes? Good. All right." He was out the door before she could even get a word in.
Ginny watched him go before she finally sat up in a rush. Dizzily, she clutched at her head, as the blood rushed back down into her body. All manner of thoughts and feelings were rushing through her, so many that she could hardly separate and recognize any of them. She stood up and started out of the sitting room to go into her bedroom to sate the desire that had pooled in her lower belly. Even if it was Malfoy, it had still felt really, amazingly good, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it. As she walked, an almost giddy smile was plastered onto her face. She had done it; she had made him fall for her. Now all she had to do was make everyone else see it.
( The Best Laid Plans 2/2 )
ORIGINAL REQUEST:
What would you like to receive:
The tone/mood of the fic: Dark/ morbid humor, coming-of-age, some romance but not just fluff. A reason why they are together beyond "I think he can be a better person." It can be that he is taking advantage of a rule she broke, she desperately needs someone to make herself feel vindicated about disliking herself or she truly is escaping Potter. Just as long as there is a reason for them to be together and that it is believable. I want a story, not just sex.
Rating of the the fic you want: Preferably NC-17 however I am willing to accept lesser ratings as long as there is mention of sexual activities, detail is appreciated but not required if sex scenes are written.
Canon or AU? As much canon as can be used, but veering into AU is acceptable. I.E.- They did meet the first time in Flourish and Blotts (canon), he teased her because he was wildly attracted to her (AU).
Deal Breakers (what don't you want?): Needless spells that do everything. No "refresher" spells that clean you up. I don't even want a pregnancy spell, make them use a potion or even better a condom. No "banishment spells" to make everything look clean unless the stuff goes somewhere. Magic is a tool they have but it is not an end-all, be-all.