Seven Sins and a Heart

Disclaimer: The characters in this store belong to J.K. Rowling and no money is being made out of this.

Beta’d by Raisinous Fiendling.

The Downside of Fever Fudges

“Merlin,” Ginny exclaimed softly as she looked at her clock; 3:13AM. She had woken up in the midst of a most disturbing nightmare, covered in sweat with the feeling she might fall off her bed. Really, this was starting to wear her out. The whole thing began right after her last encounter with Malfoy.

At first she had thought it was a sheer coincidence. But five nights in a row weren’t a coincidence at all. She told herself that it was due to Malfoy’s constant stare, which always happened to rest on her fiercely at meals. And it wasn’t exactly a nice stare. In fact, it was the most lustful stare Ginny had ever received. Once her brother even asked, confused about Malfoy probably lusting after her. She dismissed the question by shrugging and saying she had homework to do, but she knew she’d been blushing.

She thought the dreams had stopped for she found herself dreaming about Harry. She thought it wasn’t related to Malfoy. After all, she used to dream about Harry constantly. Even if the dream was quite weird, Ginny was simply too blissfully happy to worry over it. The dream was about Harry being in a competition of some sort, and she couldn’t see who his opponent was. In the end Harry lost and Ginny woke up confused. She was still happy when the dream repeated; this time she noticed it was a Quidditch match. Harry lost as the night before.

Tonight, the third night in a row of the same dream, she was not happy. The match was against Slytherin and they were soundly beating the Gryffindor team. She noted she was the only person there, besides the teams and the referee (who happened to be Zabini). Harry had yet to catch the Snitch and he seemed to be having problems with the task. As the game continued, Malfoy was first to spot the tiny golden ball.

Ginny couldn’t believe it, not only were they losing but also Harry was having trouble finding the Snitch. She saw Harry chasing after Malfoy and her blood pressure rose quickly. She was so nervous and anxious she forced herself to close her eyes. Before she opened them she felt cold wind on her face. She opened her eyes; she was flying. She looked around and saw Malfoy and Harry (who had yet to catch up with the former) chasing something in her direction. The Snitch. She looked for the Snitch only to realize she was the Snitch.

Upon this new realization she began moving faster and faster, just so Harry could catch her instead of Malfoy. But Malfoy got closer to her by the second and Harry was still behind. She flew upwards and felt even colder wind on her face. Her vision became blurrier as she felt exhaustion overwhelm her. And who could blame her? She was running away from Malfoy and waiting for Harry. Her movements slowed down; Harry had almost caught up with Malfoy. Ginny felt blissful and then a hand gripped her. She turned to look at her captor, and met grey eyes.

“You’re mine,” Draco whispered lowly, a smug smile on his perfectly pale face. Then Ginny woke up. Now, she was unable to go back to sleep. As she tossed for what felt an eternity in her four-poster bed, she thought about the meaning of her recent nightmare. She lost track of time and fell asleep, her nightmare still troubling her mind. When she finally woke up, she was late for class - with Snape. Truth to be told, class was almost over now and she didn’t feel like attending her next one either. So instead of hurrying to attempt get to class on time, Ginny searched in her trunk for some of her brothers’ sweets.

Deciding the best one to consume was the fever fudge, Ginny ate it and went straight to Madam Pomfrey’s, just to say she had been there. Later on she realized her mistake, as Pomfrey practically kidnapped her until lunch. So now not only had she had a very bad night’s sleep but she was also about to have gastritis from her lack of eating!

When Madam Pomfrey finally set her free, Ginny rushed to the Great Hall in order to get her stomach the food it’d been aching for. She was way too distracted to ponder the possibility of Malfoy being there. She sat almost cheerfully near Harry, Ron and Hermione, but her happiness only lasted so long. Eating her food, Ginny felt someone staring at her back.

“Bloody hell, Ginny, what’s going on with Malfoy?!” Ron asked, outraged.

“What do you mean, Ron?” Harry asked dumbly.

“He’s been staring at her since she got here!”

“Ron, aren’t you being a little too paranoid? I’m sure he’s not staring at Ginny.” Oh thank Merlin for Hermione. “Right, Ginny?”

“Yeah, I’m sure Hermione’s right! I …err…excuse me!” she said as she attempted to exit the scene.

“Where are you going?”

“I forgot I had told Luna I’d go with her to some place or other, not that that is any of your business, Harry,” Ginny snapped quickly and left. How dared he ask where she was going! It was none of his bloody business. Harry had practically dumped, wait, he had, in fact, ditched her. And now he was pretending he cared? What kind of psycho was he? Oh how she hated him. He was just something Ginny couldn’t bear. Between Harry and Malfoy her life was soon to be over. Why couldn’t they just let her be? Was that so difficult a task? Were they that dense, they couldn’t even get she did not want either of them?

Okay, maybe Harry didn’t want her. But then he should just ignore her. That would make hating him a much easier task. And Malfoy should just stop it with the staring! It was earning her the most inconvenient questions from her brother. She was never going to shag him again, ever. He could be a Sex God, and she wouldn’t shag him. He could be quite the gentleman, and she’d still loathe him to death. He could catch her in those strong, yet slender arms of his, and Ginny still refused to even look at him. Malfoy could keep trying to mesmerize her with his beautiful- wait, beautiful? Sex God? Strong arms? What in heaven’s name had possessed her?! Oh well, all those were true, if you looked at Draco- err Malfoy, objectively. But she wasn’t looking at him. She just loathed him.

And Ginny had strong reasons to do so. To begin with, he had taken advantage of her drunken state (though if she recalled correctly, he, too, was drunk; but that was besides the point); then proceeded to leave her all by herself, for Merlin only knows how long. Then - as if those events alone didn’t speak against him - Malfoy had thought it necessary to send bloody Zabini to join her in her otherwise relaxing day at Hogsmeade. And currently he had taken up on the task of lusting after her, rather obviously, thus causing her a lot of unwanted and undeserved trouble. Ergo, she was bound to abhor his very presence for the rest of her life.

She tried; really, she did. She had given her best effort to ignore him. To send him glares that clearly stated the aforementioned hatred. But he was just like Harry; both unbelievable dense, too dense, to get it. Ginny despised how much this was affecting her.

She couldn’t see straight. She couldn’t concentrate in class. And she always felt her head spinning furiously whenever she thought about Harry or Malfoy. In fact, she was feeling dizzy right now. Actually, rather than dizzy, she felt sick. So sick she had to lean into the nearest wall she found. Her head was hurting badly. And she had just realized that! She had been so distracted with her train of thought she had completely forgotten to eat the remaining half of the fever sweet. But before she could reach into her pocket, she blacked out, right there, in the middle of a hall.

“Bugger, my head hurts,” Ginny said, as she woke up in a bed that was not her own.

“I see you’re awake, Miss Weasley.”

“How did I get here?”

“Mr. Zabini was kind enough to bring you here, just about an hour ago. Miss Weasley, that was irresponsible of you! You fainted because you wouldn’t let me treat you properly,” Madam Pomfrey scolded her.

Ginny squirmed. “I had…uh…stuff to do.”

“Oh well, nothing can be done now. I’ve already given you the proper treatment. Now, if you please, drink this and you shall be good as new and ready to leave.” Madam Pomfrey gave her an odd-looking potion. Ginny drank it and prepared to leave.

Zabini had picked her up off the floor? Why would he do that? They weren’t even on speaking terms. It was all very strange. Perhaps it was some scheme of Malfoy’s. Though, it didn’t make sense. Malfoy could have carried her to the infirmary himself, if so. Or maybe he wanted her to think he wasn’t in that much of a need. Then again, he always gave her those needy stares that not even her brother could deny. How confusing! Teasing, teasing man.

She had to thank Zabini, much to her displeasure. Whatever his reason was, she could not deny he had helped her. So as she ate the remaining end of her brothers’ sweet, she made up her mind; she was going to look for Zabini right away and get it over with. And thus, her quest for Zabini through Hogwarts began.

She looked everywhere; the library, the Great Hall, she had even ventured to the dungeons, yet there was no sign of the man. Then it hit her: he was in class. Frustrated at her newest realization, Ginny went outdoors. She had first decided a nice walk by the lake would do well with her unsettling feelings. On her way there, however, she noticed there was a team practicing on the Quidditch pitch. Oh well, that wouldn’t hurt, would it?

She approached the pitch to take a better look, when she saw Malfoy flying, shouting orders. He was sweating, and he looked positively hot. He looked as hot as Ginny had never seen Harry, and Harry was quite the nice piece of cake, mind you. Malfoy flying was the most exquisite thing her eyes had ever had the pleasure of seeing. His lean, tall and elegant figure looked at its best when he was flying. A soft gasp escaped her lips, as she remembered Malfoy’s chest over her body. His lips kissing her deeply, his hands possessively around her hips, and just-

“Enjoying the view, Weaselette dear?” a male voice purred in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She looked around to find Zabini smirking at her.

“Zabini!” Ginny exclaimed, trying to conceal her embarrassment, even if she knew that to be an impossible thing to do.

“So, are you finally looking at Malfoy under the same light most female students look at him?”

“WHAT?!”

“Oh, but you seemed to be fantasizing quite vigorously about him, just a few seconds ago. You didn’t even notice I had come to meet you,” Zabini said in his smooth voice.

“I was not.”

“Whatever allows you to sleep at night. So tell me, darling, to what do we owe the honour of your rather unexpected visit?” Zabini asked and Ginny couldn’t help but wonder why he had emphasized the word unexpected. There was something about Zabini’s manner that was unsettling her, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“I…actually, I came to thank you, for taking me to the infirmary earlier.”

“Oh that, yes well, you looked quite helpless. But I never thought you to be the sort of people who thanked the likes of us, I think? Was it not that how you phrased it, last time we met, I mean?” Ginny had a sudden urge to smack Zabini’s cool smile off his face. Why was he always smiling? Or smirking? He never looked serious, or in distress. No, he always kept his cool, and that irritated Ginny beyond belief.

“I-I don’t remember.”

“What a pity, though I’m positive those were your words. In any case, I’m sure you can then understand our surprise at seeing you here.”

“Our surprise?” Ginny asked. Zabini didn’t look surprised at all.

“The whole team. You see, we are not precisely used to seeing you, looking for us.”

“Oh, yeah, well, I’m not used to that either.”

“I figured as much. Is there anything else you’d want? Or are you just hanging around to satisfy your need?” he said, his, now catalogued by Ginny as creepy, smile still on his face.

“My need? Zabini, are you out of your mind?!”

“Yes, your need, dear; your need for Draco.”

“I have no needs for him, so you better cut it already,” Ginny muttered in a low contained voice.

“Is that a threat? But surely you must know you’re in my territory. So wouldn’t you like to watch your words?” Ginny froze. She looked around and so no one but Slytherins. “I see you understand. Now, I’ll ask again, is there anything else you’d like?”

She really was not looking forward to spending more time with Zabini, so she decided to stop it with the small talk, “I…err…why did you…you know, pick me up?” Zabini smirked at her crackly voice and it was only then that Ginny understood why Zabini was in Slytherin. He was evil; he always smiled, or smirked, but his eyes flickered with danger and scorn. It was as though he was teasing but at same time warning not to cross the limit. Ginny now knew why Malfoy kept him on his good side. He was just plain scary.

“Because I’m a gentleman; because I, unlike you, was brought up with manners,” Zabini explained in his cool deep voice and Ginny couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips, despise her previous realization. “What’s so funny, Weaselette?”

“Nothing, nothing. It’s just that Malfoy said the exact same thing when we…it’s nothing really.”

“I see you haven’t forgotten that night. Well then, I shall tell him you’re looking forward to a repetition. Good-bye, Weaselette,” Zabini said, waving his hand and turning his back to her to return to the pitch. Ginny was just too stunned to actually say something.

“What was that about?” she heard Malfoy demand Zabini in a low serious voice.

“That’s between the two of us,” Zabini replied as he winked at her. Ginny shivered and fled the scene before she regretted it.

A/N:Please R&R! And read the A/N of chapter three in order to see my extended apologies for having forgot about this fic!