Rescuing the Dragon

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Jo: I agree. He would understand.



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Chapter Three
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Draco was feeling utterly nauseated. He swallowed convulsively, casting one last, quick glance into the mirror. Relieved, the first thing he noticed was that it didn\'t show. He looked like he always did; in other words, he didn\'t look like he was about to heave. He could *not* believe he was this bloody nervous. It wasn\'t like he actually *liked* these people. Just the opposite in fact. He pretty much hated them. He did have to admit he was beginning to appreciate Ginny Weasley\'s sense of humor, though. He also had to admit that approaching him in the great hall had taken guts -- though there was no way what-so-ever he\'d ever admit that he admired that.

In fact he *still* believed it was probably some sort of setup. He frowned, glancing at his beside clock. Fifteen minutes to go. Grabbing his cloak, Draco headed out, quietly slipping through the Slytherin common room and out the portrait hole. He\'d get there early. That way, he wouldn\'t get left behind, looking like a git for believing they really wanted him along. Well, he amended silently, chuckling, for believing *Ginny* really wanted him along. He already *knew* the others didn\'t, not that he blamed them -- or cared.

//Right, keep telling yourself that.//

**Sod off!**

Just as he\'d intended, he reached the main hall before the others -- though he wasn\'t the first one there by any means. He sneered. Almost the entire third year class was already there, fresh young faces so bloodger ger for their first trip into Hogsmeade. He stood back from the crowd, waiting.

To his complete surprise, he had to wait until the arranged time for the Griffs to show up -- Ginny and Ron being the first two to arrive. It actually looked like they hadn\'t been trying to set him up.

**First time for everything, I suppose,** Draco thought.

\"Hello, Draco,\" Ginny greeted him -- warmly, too, he realized with a start. It was a touch . . . unnerving and he had to fight back his nearly instinctive put down. His usually mode of conduct certainly wouldn\'t get him the results he wanted today.

\"Ginny,\" he replied, nodding once. It felt . . . odd being *nice* to a Weasley -- though he had to smirk as the weasel scowled. The git didn\'t like him calling Ginny by name. **Good!** he thought, adding mischievously **This really *is* going to be fun.**

He almost laughed as Ginny nudged the weasel sharply. \"Malfoy,\" the weasel said in response, rubbing the spot his sister had elbowed.

\"Weas . . . ley,\" he replied just a stiffly, barely managing *not* to call him weasel. Unfortunately, he almost spoiled it by laughing outright at Ron Weasley\'s shocked expression. That\'s when he knew *exactly* how he was going to twit the git. He\'d confound the red haired boy with politeness. He knew how to be polite, it was just that usually he never bothered -- at least not with his so-called peers. Why should he have; he was a Malfoy. The only people he had to be polite to were those with power over him.

Draco could see it now; the stupid git would spend the entire day trying to figure out what he was up to. He and Potter merely nodded to each other when the other boy arrived. Draco wasn\'t sure what prompted Potter\'s silence and seeming civility, but *he* didn\'t want to destroy the fragile peace before he got a chance to drive the weasel crazy with suspicion.

//Keep telling yourself that
D
Draco snarled silently at himself to just, \"bloody well shut up!\" as the surprising group headed out to enjoy a day in Hogsmeade.

***

Willow stared in disbelief, surprised into complete silence by the response to her spell. She hadn\'t really expected it to work this time any better than it had the last three times she\'d cast it.

\"Buffy!\" She shouted excitedly, jumping up from her seat. \"It worked! Tell Giles it worked!\"

Buffy covered the phone\'s mouth piece with her hand. \"You know where he is?\"

Willow nodded vigorously, a huge grin spreading across her face. \"We\'re not too far away, actually -- though telling Giles exactly where we\'re going is going to be difficult.\"

\"Why?\" Xander asked, suddenly appearing right next to her, glaring down at the map and the tiny white light indicating their target. \"Oh.\"

\"Yeah,\" Willow replied evenly. \"No town listed there.\"

Buffy frowned, thinking a moment before turning her attention back to her phone conversation. \"Giles? . . . Yeah, we\'ve located him. . . . No, I can\'t tell you that. . . . Because he\'s not *in* a town.\" Buffy looked up suddenly signalling to Willow.

Willow brought the map over, letting Buffy see it. She tuned out as Buffy began relaying where they were going to Giles, making plans of her own. In Sunnydale this kind of thing would be pretty easy -- well, relatively easy. She wasn\'t sure how well it was going to go over here. She was pretty sure some kid wasn\'t going to be willing to go with them simply because they said they were there to protect him. She almost laughed. More likely, the poor kid would scream his head off, running to the first available familiar adult, telling tales of nasty American kidnappers.

They hadn\'t discussed much about that. Since waking up, they\'d pretty much been focused on just locating him.

\"Yes, Giles, we\'re on our way. . . . Just as soon as you let me hang up.\" Buffy laughed then. \"Okay. Bye. . . . *Yes*, we\'ll keep you updated.\" Buffy hung up quickly, rolling her eyes as she turned. \"Yeesh! You\'d think we were still teenagers and this was the first trip without \'Dad\'.\"

Spike snorted, stepping toward the group.

**

Draco grinned, ducking his head to hide his expression. He hadn\'t really thought he\'d enjoy himself this much. He never had enjoyed the hogsmeade trips before. Of course, that *could* have been due to the company he\'d kept. Crabbe and Goyle might have been loyal -- well, until recently -- but they were dumb as posts. To his utter surprise, Potter was even being halfway decent. After a rough beginning, the prat had actually pretty much left him alone.

Of course, the highlight of the day was Ron Weasley, who even right now was glowering at him. He supposed he was probably sitting too close to Ginny for the weasel\'s comfort level -- which was just fine with him. The more uncomfortable the weasel was, the happier Draco was. Beside him, Ginny finally noticed her brother\'s stare. Draco startled a bit when the red headed girl scooted even closer. He had to stifle a snort when she sent her brother a stony faced smirk; the weasel\'s red-faced reaction was priceless.

Just to add to the tension, Draco casual raised his arm and settled it on the back of Ginny\'s chair. He didn\'t even mind the girl\'s ridiculous giggle.

Everyone jumped when Hermione burst out laughing.

\"Oh! Would you two stop yanking Ron\'s chain.

\"I have no idea what you\'re talking about,\" Draco replied smoothly, surprised to hear Ginny\'s voice in concert with his.

\"Yeah, right. I\'ve got to admit, though, that it *has* been entertaining.\"

Draco fought to keep his jaw from dropping. He still wasn\'t entirely comfortable associating with her -- well, not like he was *really* associating with her. She just happened to be wite pee person he *was* associating with. It was disconcerting, however. He had to keep forcing himself not to look around and double check that no one he knew was seeing him in the same group as a mud-- gle-gle-born. \"I\'m *ever* so delighted to have been \'entertaining\' you today, Granger,\" Draco drawled, light sarcasm peppering his words. \"I\'m surprised you\'d admit to being interested enough to *watch*.\"

Granger rolled her eyes, but disappointingly didn\'t get upset at his insinuations. Unfortunately, he found himself unwilling to risk Ginny\'s inevitable displeasure if he pushed it and resorted to his usual tactics. He frowned at that thought, not entirely sure he shouldn\'t be worried about his state of mind. Why in the world would he actually *care*? He really shouldn\'t. His frowned deepened and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

\"What\'s wrong?\" Ginny asked quietly, leaning closer.

Draco jumped up suddenly, Ginny rearing back in reaction. \"I\'ve got to go now,\" he mumbled, not knowing quite why, but needing to get out. He stalled for a moment, then hesitantly nodded in Ginny\'s direction. \"I\'ll see you later,\" he said, striding away as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

He reached the door quickly, but found himself reluctant to leave it at that. He turned, nervously crossing his arms across his chest, not quite sure what to do with his hands -- all the while berating himself silently. He was a *Malfoy*. He always knew how to act, how to stand. \"Thanks, I . . . had fun today,\" he said in a rush, addressing the entire group. Spinning abruptly, he hurried out before they could say anything -- or *he* could say anything more *humiliating*. He was already a little nauseated for actually *thanking* the bloody Gryffindors.

TBC
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