Fueling Fire | Draco and Ginny {DRINNY}

Chapter 6

"Please, will you just talk to me?" Samuel begged. I was walking by the lake, alone, until he came along. "At least consider what I'm saying."

I stopped walked and slapped my hands down against my thighs in frustration. "Yeah, and what is it you're saying, Sam? Just leave me be!"

"You've grown up with pranks your whole life. Why does that one prank affect you so much?"

That was a pathetic question. What he said was true. During my childhood I'd grown up getting many odd pranks thrown right in my face, but Sam's just went way too far. Pranks were meant to be fun. "I think you should take a trip to the library and look up the definition of 'prank.' Pranks are meant to be funny. That was just disgusting."

Out from behind a straggling tree, popped, Crabbe, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. I wondered where Pansy was, she was normally with them. The three began to laugh, and I knew what about. The so called prank Sam had pulled on me the night before. I crossed my arms and glared.

"That was pretty funny," Draco laughed. "You should have seen your face, Weasley."

"Yeah," I nodded. "And you should have seen yours, too."

Crabbe, Malfoy and Zabini all exchanged a glance, completely silent. I tilted my head to the side and flashed an innocent smile. Even Sam was looking at me all funny, until he, too, caught on.

"Malfoy, I don't see how this could possibly be funny to you. You had no idea about the prank."

Draco ignored Sam and focused eyes directly on mine. He looked like he was trying to figure me out, read what I was thinking, something along those lines. Draco huffed amusingly and threw me a serious look. "What about my good-looking face, Weasley? Don't tell me you've fallen for me. That's the last thing I'm looking for right now. Blood-traitor."

I laughed. He was playing dumb with me. "Malfoy, if you haven't noticed, the war is over. There aren't any blood-traitors or mudbloods, we're all equal. And whatever is crawling through that abnormal mind of yours, it's eating your brain cells. You've fallen for me," I laughed again, "you should have seen your face."

I pivoted on the spot, and began to walk away, laughing. If only the Slytherin common room had been mirrored, he'd remember that look on his face. In fact, he does. But he can't play dumb with me. I remembered that look, and I know he knew what I was talking about.

"Wait here," I heard Malfoy say from behind me, obviously talking to his friends. I was still walking away, but Malfoy ran and caught up with me. He stood directly in front of me so there was no way I could pass him. "What are you on about, Weasel?"

"Please, you don't have to act like the hard arse you normally are," I rolled my eyes. He was away from his friends, why put the hard act on again? "What I'm on about, is that you were worried about me last night."

Draco scoffed and ran a hand through his almost white hair. "That was part of the prank, you idiot."

"No it wasn't, you idiot."

"Yes, it was, Weasley. You don't have to act like every guy is after you, because they aren't."

"And you don't have to act like everybody has to be afraid of you, because they don't," Draco furrowed his brows at my statement, but I chose to ignore it. "So if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get going."

"I wasn't worried about you!" I heard him call after me. "I don't even care about you. You're a Weasley!"

I chuckled, and hollered back, "Don't worry, Draco Malfoy, I won't tell!"

* * *

Later that afternoon, Luna, Neville and I walked to Hogsmeade. Haley had detention. It was quite awkward being the third wheel but I didn't mind. Luna and Neville were both my friends before they even started to see each other differently. Suddenly, Luna gasped.

"Oh, look, Neville," she squealed. I followed to where her finger was pointing at. It was a plastic necklace with a red symbol as decoration. She leaned closer towards us, more solemn this time. "It keeps the nargles away. It really does. Wait here, I'm gonna go buy it."

Neville and I watched as Luna skipped into the store to buy her so called nargle mask. I rubbed my arms. It was getting colder and colder as the season edged closer toward winter. I scanned the area. There weren't much people. Probably because it was close to dinner and the night was fairly chilly. Something caught my eye during my scan scene. Something I thought to like.

I crossed the street with Neville hot on my trail, asking what I was doing. I stopped and smiled, fiddling with the material on the long, grey, woollen cardigan. It would definitely come in handy in the winter, seeing as I really only had the one jacket. But it was thin and old and completely worn out. It never really made much of a difference when I wore it. My fingers flipped over the price tag on the side, and the smile was wiped off my face. I was a complete idiot for fooling myself into thinking I'd actually be able to afford something good. I thought prices would have actually dropped considering there was a war and people were in desperate need of things. I sighed, feeling disappointed.

Neville cleared his throat and slumped his shoulders. "I-I'm sorry, Ginny. If I had the money I really would buy it for you."

"No," I shook my head, puzzled. "No, no, that's okay, Neville. I didn't really want it anyway. I was just looking."

Pretty soon, Luna walked out of the shop with a dreamy smile on her face, clipping the plastic behind her long, blonde hair. I looked away as we walked past Zonko's joke shop. It was Fred and George's favourite shop. It felt haunted by Fred, like he was hiding in there, waiting to jump out and scare me. But he never did.

"Are you alright, Ginny?" Luna asked, placing her hand on my back. She looked concerned. She looked behind me at the store and nodded her head, pulling me away faster with her and Neville.

"Thanks, Luna," I said, clearing my throat. "I can't stand being near there anymore."

Neville looked around awkwardly. "None of us can," he said quietly. "We all loved him, Ginny."