Rescuing the Dragon

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Chapter Two
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It wasn\'t until lunch time that Draco ventured out of his room. He had no intention of letting *anyone* see him at anything other than top form, so he\'d waited out his unsettling crisis of \'life isn\'t fair\'. Okay, so \'waited out\' was a little too . . . calm and meditative a phrase, but it had the same effect. He was calmer now than he had been. He was resigned. Besides, he only had 6 more months of having too many guardians. He\'d actually wanted to stay in his room longer, his hunger not exactly a driving force at the moment. Unfortunately, missing lunch would set the gossip flowing, and he wanted to avoid that disaster at all costs. A Malfoy didn\'t cause gossip . . . well, okay, maybe they did, they just weren\'t *ever* the center of it.

He blatantly ignored the other students in the halls as he made his way to the great hall. If he could ignore them, he could pretend they weren\'t ignoring him right back. Ignoring the temptation to simply retreat to his room, Draco straightened his shoulders, made sure his trademark smirk was firmly in place, and arrogantly strode into the great hall.

His eyes narrowed as he took in a specific group of Gryffindors whispering and laughing quietly. He paused briefly as he considered stopping by the table long enough to taunt his arch rival, but decided against it; the effort simply wasn\'t worth the effect. It took everything he had just to maintain the facade that he didn\'t give a rats arse about being virtually shunned.

And then it happened, the thing that tilted his world view on its axis, never to be righted again.

\"Draco?\"

Draco Malfoy snapped his head up, staring in surprise at Ginny Weasley. How *dare* she use his first name, like they were . . . *friends* or soing.ing. \"What do you want, *Weasley*?\"

Ginny flinched, taking a half-step back.

Malfoy smirked. **That\'ll teach her to overstep her bounds.** There was nothing like the subtle insult -- at least when the recipient was smart enough to get it.

She took a deep breath, however, squaring her shoulders and re-taking her ground -- which Draco had to admit, not only surprised him, but made him respect her just a *tiny* bit. Of course, that made him angry. He didn\'t *want* to respect *any* Weasley.

\"I j-just wanted to invite you into Hogsmeade with us.\"

\"What?\" he asked, incredulous. The room around them fell into absolute silence and he knew without a doubt that the two of them suddenly had the attention of every single student present -- and for the first time in his life it was *very* unsettling.

Weasley dipped her head, blushing slightly, but stepped closer, her voice dropping to a low whisper.

Draco doubted that anyone else could hear her, despite the strained, listening silence.

\"I d-don\'t think it\'s fair the way you\'re being treated.\"

Draco frowned, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He didn\'t want pity from anyone, let alone the mousy *Weasley*.

\"A-and I just wanted to let you know th-that I kn-now what you\'re going through. Th-that if you\'re w-willing, you d-don\'t have to be alone.\"

Draco launched himself to his feet, the bench behind him scraping the floor loudly. He leaned forward, fists braced on the table. \" *You* know what *I\'m* going through?\" he hissed angrily. \"And just what would *you* know about it?\" he continued, sneering. \"Little miss *Weasley*.\"

Hers tus turning to ice, Ginny Weasley glared, and an expression Draco could only describe as mulish descended over her face as she copied his stance. Face to face, only inches apart, she hissed right back. \"I don\'t know how everyone found out, but I know damn well you know what happened to me my first year here -- so don\'t pretend you don\'t.\"

As Ginny\'s words sank in, Draco paled. How could he have forgotten that? Riddle had used her -- because of *his* father. The news had spread through the school like fire. It wasn\'t supposed to . I. Is sus supposed to have been kept quiet. Of course, that had meant the everyone had known. No one spoke about it out loud, hushed whispers in dark corners was all the attention it had received, but that had been enough. Suddenly he was remembering the isolation she\'d gone through the last couple of weeks that year.

Another deep breath and Ginny suddenly relaxed her stance. It was then that Draco noticed \'the trio\' standing directly behind Ginny, all of them wearing confused, wary expressions.

\"What\'s this all about, Ginny?\" Ron Weasley asked as he shifted from foot to foot.

Ginny cast a quick glance at him, but waved him off, turning immediately back to Draco. \"You don\'t *have* to be alone through all this,\" she said quietly.

Several of his housemates gasped, but Draco ignored them, most of his attention centered on trying to figure out exactly what Ginny Weasley\'s game was. What was she bloody well after?

\"So, if you can manage to shelve that mighty Draco--

Ron gasped. \"Ginny!\"

\"--arrogance of yours for the afternoon. You\'re welcome to come along.\"

\"Like hell he is!\" Ron snapped, his face contorting in a strange combination of revulsion and anger.

Draco automatically opened his mouth for a scathing retort when he was shocked into speechlessness. Both Potter and Granger were suddenly dragging the weasel away -- though, if he were to judge by their expressions, they weren\'t any happier about Ginny\'s invitation than the weasel was.

He grinned then, his eyes dancin\"Yo\"You do realize the trouble you\'ve brought on yourself don\'t you?\"

Ginny grinned back at him, glancing over her shoulder at her brother and friends, then nodded once at him, shrugging. \"He\'ll get over it.\"

Draco let out a single bark of laughter, for a moment wondering if she hadn\'t been mis-sorted. Picturing the weasel\'s resentment if he agreedaco aco stuck out his hand. \"I\'d be delighted,\" he said. Of course, the fact that it would put out Potter\'s and the mudblood\'s noses didn\'t hurt, either.

Ginny clasped his hand and they shook on it. Then, to the outraged complaints of his housemates -- and the accompanying vocal complaint of the weasel -- Draco raised her hand to his lips, kissing it gently before releasing it.

He risked a glance at the head table and was surprised to discover Professor Snape half out of his seat, Professor McGonagall\'s hand on his arm. The headmaster, however, was leaning back in his chair watching them intently. He seemed to be enjoying the scene.

\"You, Sir,\" Ginny said as she turned away, \"have a wicked sense of humor.\"

**And you,** Draco thought as he rounded the table, wanting to get out of the great hall before his housemates decided to let their displeasure known, **are more than you appear.** He nodded to the four Gryffindors as he swept out into the hall, all the while wondering if he really *was* off his nutter. He hadn\'t just agreed to accompany Ginny Weasley . . . and company into Hogsmeade. He couldn\'t have.

The sudden realization that his father would be positively furious made Draco grin, and made him all the more determined to carry through on it. If nothing else, he could have fun twitting the weasel. It had been too long since he\'d enjoyed himself, and he had the sneaking suspicion that an afternoon playing at being Ginny Weasley\'s escort would do just that -- especially if he managed to give her brother a stroke in the process.


TBC
Kiristeen
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