Chapter 4

Draco wanted to talk to Ginny Weasley next, but she was always in the company of some familiar faces or some people Draco could have sworn she had never seen before, even if she spent years going to the same school as them.

As time passed, Draco knew Ginny's schedule by heart as if she was some maniac following her around, but still couldn't find an opportunity until Ginny had sent an owl to her parents, and nobody wanted to accompany her to the Owlery.

On her way back to the Gryffindor Tower, Draco decided to straight out ask her - not keen on repeating the disaster with Hagrid - whether they could talk sometime, and got rejected without even as much as a chance to explain why.

So Draco might have tried to ask her whether she'd consider going to Hogsmeade together. Or grab a bite from the kitchen when they had a free period.

Then came the infamous fail when she tried to pass a note to Ginny in Transfiguration class, and McGonagall not only read it out loud upon seizing it, but told Draco how she should "conduct your love-life outside classes, Miss Malfoy", and by the next day, the whole school was loud with the rumor that Ginny had rejected Draco, as if it was ever her intention to date the youngest Weasley.

She might have given up on ever succeeding too, when she overheard that Ron and Ginny were going to practice flying, so she dressed up in training gear too, and grabbed her broom, hoping if she asked to join them, maybe they wouldn't turn her around, and she might just find a way, working from there.

It was unforeseen that Potter was with them as well, but Draco tried to use his presence as an advantage.

"May I join you? It's easier to play fair with an even number of players."

"We're just practicing," Ginny said, just as when her brother concluded something different.

"Why not."

"You can't be serious!" the witch looked at Ron as if he had betrayed her.

"What? We kept saying for ages that it's not so much fun that we aren't allowed to participate in real games anymore," Ron surrendered. "At this point, I'm so bored, I'd play with a house elf if they were any good on a broom."

"Maybe we could have just one mini-practice," Draco offered. "And I could be with Ron."

"That's fine by me," Ron miraculously agreed. "I just hope you won't hold me back, Malfoy."

"I'll try hard not to," Draco was sarcastic while saying, but Ron only nodded, but that agreement was quick to die a swift death when his sister noted.

"What, you couldn't get me, so you're hitting on Ron now?"

"I'm really not," Draco could only say.

"You harassed my sister?" Ron looked as if rather than a friendly game, he'll curse Draco next.

"I didn't!" Draco could quickly say. "At least, not in the way you think! I just wanted…"

By then, all three of the lions were staring at her intently, and Draco wanted to run away so badly she was pretty sure she was sweating, even though Quidditch hasn't started yet.

"I know it will sound idiotic, but I just wanted a friend. I'm not even into witches."

"But you dated Parkinson," Potter pointed out.

"I did a lot of stupid things," Draco admitted. "If we're going to list all of them, the whole afternoon might not be enough."

Everyone was still staring at her, and Draco might have blushed horribly, but just when she was about to give up, Potter took pity on her.

"I'll play. With Malfoy. I'm pretty sure I'm safe."

"Meaning?" Draco tried not to take offense. "For the record, if I was to try to seduce stupid Gryffindors with compulsive hero complexes - which I'm not but if I was - you'd be begging for mercy."

"Absolutely," Potter said, making fun of her. "But I don't think that you'd be tempted to as much as talk about the weather if it's me, so we'll be fine."

It was such a good plan that Draco didn't object, and found herself surprisingly focused on the game when she was getting strange looks again.

"What?" she tried to sound not defensive, but it was hard when all the other three stopped playing.

"Did you go to a Quidditch boot camp over the summer or hired a world-famous player to train you or something?" Ginny asked.

"I don't remember when I played last," Draco didn't get it.

"You can't be serious," the other Weasley huffed. "You did, didn't you? And now you're just fucking with us."

"I don't even know what you're on about," Draco tried to tell them.

"Race me to the goalposts and back," Potter said, and got a head start when Draco was too stunned to follow, but to some of her surprise, she almost managed to take over Potter on their way back.

"Well, you're certainly faster. Your turn was also surprisingly swift," Potter admitted defeat.

"My broom is a newer model," Draco said. "I should be faster, and make better turns."

After all, Narcissa insisted they buy her a new one just this summer, just to cheer Draco up, and she didn't have the heart to tell her that Draco wasn't 12 anymore, when that last worked.

"Yes, but you had better brooms than Harry before," Ron added. "But let's admit, you were never going to beat him, and now you look like you could."

"Just did," Potter graciously called the race Draco's victory. "I hope it's only practice and you aren't mixing potions that would help you win."

"For the love of Merlin, I haven't! I'm not…" Draco was irritated that she was taken as a cheat until it occurred to her. She did take a number of potions, during summer. Even if it had nothing to do with Quidditch, it could affect her game.

"What did you do, Malfoy?" Potter could see how she froze in the middle of the sentence, so she had to share her line of thought, or she'd be branded as someone who lied about something as frivolous as a friendly Quidditch practice, when she was trying to restore some of her reputation, not further ruin it.

"Actually, it never occurred to me, but… I guess I was always trying to play Quidditch as a wizard. So essentially I lost seconds just being too self-conscious about every single move I was going to make, and in sports, those seconds might as well be a difference between a good and an average player."

"You aren't allowed to play with Harry," Ginny told her, but when Draco thought it was because Ginny thought Draco would want to charm her boyfriend now or something, the younger Weasley said. "Or rather: I want to win, so you're with me. Girls versus boys. We're going to make them cry, and I can't wait."

It's not as if Draco could match Potter's flashiest moves regardless, but Ginny played better than Ron, so she didn't have to, just bring a constantly good play, which she did.

In the end, Ginny tolerated her so well, that they only finished playing when it was too dark to see, and she stopped ignoring Draco towards the end. Which would have been a blessing in most cases, except when Draco tried to quickly return to the castle, avoiding the three other players on purpose.

"You aren't going to use the dressing rooms?"

"Erm, I left my clothes in the castle, so no," Draco told her.

"For the record, I'm sorry for giving you shit earlier," Ginny said as if she knew why Draco wouldn't risk changing anywhere outside her dorms.

"It's okay, you didn't know, and maybe I was so desperate that I did look as if I was trying to get a date."

"I knew you weren't," the younger Weasley told her. "Hagrid told me right away when you first appeared looking for him and told him you wanted to make amends with everyone, and I had a feeling that's why you wanted to talk to me."

"Oh, so you just don't want my apology?" Draco understood if she didn't, but that didn't change the fact that it still sucked.

"I guess I'm just wondering why won't you talk to Hermione first. If anyone, she's the obvious choice, not me."

"Yes," Draco appreciated the honesty because it gave her a chance to clear the misunderstanding up. "But I'm working up the courage to talk to her. And I want to give her something that's not ready yet. And everyone listens to you better than they listen to Potter... So I didn't want to make apologies until I could be at least somewhat certain you wouldn't just tell your friends to ignore me anyway, I guess."

"I won't. Unless you give me a reason to," Ginny offered. "But if we're being completely frank, I don't think Hermione would appreciate any gifts from you. No offense. Just tell her you've been a jerk, and save your money."

"It's a potion I'm brewing, and not only for her, but also myself," Draco surrendered, pulling up her left sleeve to show the scar that was left behind after the Dark Mark faded, and not even the potions Draco took for the transition made it disappear. "I don't have the best memories associated with these scars, so I can only imagine what Granger must be feeling about the scars my aunt had given her. Maybe she'd want to make them disappear, or maybe not, but I'd like to give her the choice."

"Well then," Ginny cleared her throat. "Brew it faster."

"I can't. It literary takes longer just to--"

"Then apologize now, and give her the potion later. And apologize to everyone else too. I'll help you. Tomorrow you only have morning classes, right? Imagine how many people you could talk to in the afternoon!"

Draco was grateful for the offer, but the prospect of rushing the apologies also equally left her terrified. She had been telling herself that from the "Forest patrols" with Hagrid, she had learned that good things took time.

Like earning the trust of a beast, or growing pumpkins for Halloween if you didn't just buy them. So it was okay if she didn't get to everyone in the first few months when she had the whole school year. At least that was the plan.

"Don't look at me like that," Ginny laughed. "If you can be almost decent, I don't want to be your Secret Keeper. You'll thank me later, you'll see."

It was a relief not to be on Ginny Weasley's bad side, truly, but it was also yet to be determined whether Draco could actually keep up with her if she put her mind into something.

"I want to do it right. It's important to me," Draco had to tell her.

"Trust me," in the end, Ginny might have had more confidence in her than Draco herself.