Ginny and Draco Pt2

Draco Malfoy never knew how many freckles could make a person look this beautiful until he saw Ginny Weasley up close that day. He didn't even realize that he was staring but as soon as he did, he tried to look away and change the subject and somehow ended up asking that question.

"Have you ever wished to be born in a different family?"

That was a question that had been bothering Draco for months if not years. Since Voldemort's return, he had seen his father go from the strongest and most powerful person to a person who trembled with fear even just by hearing Voldemort's voice and begged for mercy when he did the slightest thing wrong. Draco's father, who always expected great things for Draco and wanted him to follow in his father's footsteps, was failing to protect his family from the Dark lord, someone he worshipped. Then how could he call himself strong and expect Draco to be just like him? 

Draco felt lost after last year when he heard about the Tonks family murder, he found his mother crying alone and he realized his father could do nothing. He hated that moment of seeing his mother like that, he wanted to help his mother but didn't know how, and he hated that more. That was the moment he realized that he couldn't help his mother if he continued to follow in his father. Because his father was failing and he was failing with him. For the first time in his life, Draco felt helpless and didn't feel very lucky to be a Malfoy as now that name meant nothing. For both sides of this war, the Malfoys were just cowards. They were just a pure-blood family with no power. So what was the point of fighting for any side of this war? If they wanted to save themselves they needed to hide. But there was no place to hide from Voldemort. All the people who had tried had ended up dead . . . except one. 

Draco remembered Theodore and how Dumbledore had helped him get away from his father and Voldemort. Thus, Dumbledore was their family's only hope, and despite knowing his father would not agree, he suggested his mom to contact Dumbledore. It was the only way they could be safe but still, Draco couldn't ignore the sense of loss he felt. All of his Slytherin friends in Hogwarts knew what his family did and they tried to attack him on multiple occasions, but Draco was always better at magic than Crabb, Goyle, and Pansy, so they were never successful. Draco also knew this would affect Astoria and he didn't want that, not to mention there was too much going on in his head to be in a normal relationship. Draco just wanted to be left alone and his wish came true after a while. He truly was alone. He couldn't bring himself to sleep or eat and this question kept floating around in his mind as he struggled to do the basic things every day.

Would his life be okay if he was born into a different family?

"I think everybody feels like that once in their lifetime," Ginny answered to Draco's question after thinking for a moment. "What if I had a different family? A different life? But I don't think there is any point in wasting time on something that is out of control. What matters is what we choose to do about the things that are in our control."

Draco looked at her surprised, he never expected Ginny to answer let alone give a calm helpful response. But she did.

Yet, Draco found it difficult to believe.

"I find it hard to believe that a Weasley would wish that," Draco said before he could stop himself and saw Ginny's eyes flare.

"Well, you don't know me," Ginny said crossing her arms and looking angry. "And you know what? Since you are feeling ok now, I will be get going."

Ginny turned to leave the bathroom, so Draco quickly started explaining,

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I just . . . you know Weasleys are like the perfect family example in a way. Like you all love everybody and welcome them as your family. People like Potter, Granger, and Norton. But you are right, I don't know you. Sorry."

Now it was Ginny who stood still with a surprised look.

"What?"

"Never mind," Draco shrugged. "Thank you for helping me."

That night again, Draco couldn't sleep but this time the reason was different. There was a time when Ginny Weasley would have gladly given him a bloody nose, yet today she helped him. Was she pitying him? 

A few days later, Draco found himself in the same empty classroom when Ginny stormed in like before. Only this time, she looked like she was hoping to see Draco there. As soon as she met Draco's eyes, she grumbled,

"Duel me."

"What?" Draco looked at her taken aback. 

"I am in a bad mood and very angry and only dueling someone will let me help cool down," Ginny stated matter-of-factly.

"What about your friends?" Draco asked. 

"They are busy. So are you going to duel with me or not?" Ginny looked impatient and angrier with every passing moment. 

"Ok, ok, sure," Draco got up and pointed his wand at her. "But you know it's still not allowed to duel without a teacher's supervision, ri–woah!"

Before Draco could finish Ginny attacked and he barely dodged it.

"Were you always this sloppy?" Ginny taunted and Draco rolled her eyes before attacking her but Ginny easily stopped the attack with a shield.

"Were you always this good?" Draco said as he dodged another one of Ginny's attacks. 

"Praising me won't let you off easy, you know," Ginny said coolly.

"Neither will you taunting me," Draco retorted attacking and dodging. 

But he wasn't lying, Ginny was actually good. He remembered hearing from some of the Slytherins how Ginny Weasley was as beautiful as she was strong. Now he realized they weren't wrong and there was a reason that even Slytherins fell for a Gryffindor like her. She was absolutely mesmerizing when she moved to fight, her eyes focused on her opponent, her hands and mouth in perfect coordination to move her wand and utter the spell, and her flaming red hair flew around like literal flames. It was indeed a breathless sight to behold. 

"Ouch!" Draco got distracted and one of Ginny's jinxes hit him on his arm. He dropped his wand as his arms refused to move and felt numb. Holding his injured arm, he muttered, "Good one, Weasley."

"I thought you would dodge," Ginny said looking somewhere between annoyed and worried. "Let's go to the hospital wing and get your arm checked."

"No, no, I will be fine," Draco protested waving his fine arm.

"Are you trying to get me in trouble by not treating it after my jinx hit you?" Ginny narrowed her eyes. "I suggested that we duel, so you are going to blame me eventually."

"What? No," Draco shook his head. "I just don't like –"

"Let's go then," Ginny said marching toward the door and looking back at him expectantly.

Draco sighed and followed her as now he couldn't feel his arm at all and for some reason, he didn't want to say no to Ginny.

"Also, you didn't suggest that we duel, you ordered," Draco mumbled and Ginny rolled her eyes. "Why were you in a bad mood anyway."

"None of your business," Ginny said looking ahead.

"Fair enough," Draco chuckled.

[To be continued]