fire & snow ⇝ drinny {under heavy editing}

a surreal encounter

Ginny
"Welcome back all of yeh Harry!, Hermione! Ron! How yeh been? Been' quite ruff here if yeh must know. Anyway I hope yeh all come by mi hut later after the feast." said a voice who shook the ground beneath them.

"Alright Hagrid, very pleasant seeing you again." Hermione said flashing a smile to the giant figure also known as Hagrid, Hogwarts' beloved gamekeeper.

"Ginny! 'ery nice to see yeh come back, how yeh been how yeh been?!" Cried Hagrid as he took all of the remaining air out of her lungs from the tight, massive embrace given to her by the enormous man.

"I've—been—brilliant—thanks—and yourself?—" Ginny replied with aspirated speech meanwhile trying to free herself from the tangles in Hagrid's bushy, black beard and arms the size of tree trunks.

"Good! Good! 'lad tew hear so! But to mi dismay I fink I might'a lost another dragon again." Frowned Hagrid. "Haven't seen one romain' round' have yeh now?"

Ginny chuckled in a nervous way.

"Er—no, sorry Hagrid. He'll come around they always do." Said Ginny remembering Hermione mentioning something about Hagrid's first dragon Norberta.

"Yeh! I reckon I'll find em if I follo' the trail o' the dead goats." Grinned the giant.

Ginny stared at him with wide and concerned eyes.

"I'm only kiddin' round' with yeh! It s not only goats but cows too!" Added the giant man.

"Well I'll see yeh around off yeh go now." Hagrid finally said as he left Ginny with a look of serious amazement mixed with concern.

"First years this wai! Come with mi, haven't got all dai!" She heard Hagrid's voice getting smaller as she made her way to the castle and looked around for her friends.

By the time she had gotten to the carriages who pulled themselves everyone was already gone and to her guess, in the great hall already. "Guess this means i'm missing out on this year's sorting ceremony." she murmured to herself as she walked alone to the castle.

Ginny had then found herself wondering why there were still so many first years as there were in her previous years at Hogwarts. With Cedric's death occurring only a term ago she was surprised to know that parents still found it alright to send it okay to send their children there.

She was almost at the castle's reach when she heard a strange noise of twigs snapping by a nearby portion of trees that belonged to the Forbidden Forrest. All students who had ever attended Hogwarts knew that the forest was strictly prohibited but Ginny, clearly being a natural rebellious girl, (getting that from her mother) had never really cared to listen.

Cautiously she walked over to where the noise came from and quickly hid behind a nearby oak tree. She looked around carefully and saw no movement after a few minutes of holding her breath for a sign of presence, she decided it was time to make her way back to the castle; at this point the start-of-term-feast had probably commenced.

  —SNAP! Just as Ginny turned around again she noticed a flash of white hair run through the trees, naturally she felt the need to follow it. She struggled getting through the dark forest as the long and somber looking looking branches latched on to her knit sweater and tugged at the ends of her long scarlet hair.

Finally she came across a patch of light and exited the what it seemed like never ending forest and suddenly almost tripped.

Realizing she was standing right by the edge of the black lake, home of the giant squid who was said to roam deeply and swiftly in it's ink black waters. Ginny looked around wondering how she had gotten so far from the castle she looked around for a sign of presence yet again & to her surprise caught a glimpse of a slender a figure with white blonde hair sitting by the edge of the lake gazing into the horizon.

It was Draco.

Looking like he was in some sort of daze, Ginny observed him carefully for what felt like centuries, watching his every move. She had never seen him look so peaceful...let alone had she seen him look so detached, out of nowhere she felt a need rising in the region of her stomach, to comfort him. without her even realizing it Ginny's feet started carrying her right in Draco's direction. Feeling as if she was being jinxed "NO!" Ginny screamed in her head "STOP!" She pleaded to herself.

Draco's head shot up in fright at the very sight of her and got to his feet quickly.

"Why are you following me around weasel?" Draco exclaimed in a shaky kind of tone.

All Ginny could do at the moment was stare, her her mouth parted as she tried to speak but nothing came out.

"What in the name of Merlin happened to you? Get in a fight with the whomping willow?"

Draco said smirking evilly whilst pulling one of the remaining leaves from the forest's tree branches in her hair.

Ginny feeling like a silencing charm was placed over her, was still completely out of words.

"Bloody hell Weasley, Mrs. Norris got your tongue? Not like anyone would mind anyway bye now I've got better things to do. Don't let the spiders eat you...wait! I don't care." snarled Draco.

Ginny was then left to think about what had just occurred she looked around still wondering how she got there in the first place. After a while she had stopped hearing Malfoy's footsteps so yet again she let her legs carry her in his tracks. A few minutes after trying to make her way out of the forest she was startled by the sound of running it was Draco's running, she jogged up to the distance where the tall & thin figure was just in front of her.

Through the dim light that the forest allowed to come in through the leaves she saw Draco, breathing heavily he looked like he was having a panic attack, she heard soft sobs leaving his lungs. Draco was crying. At this point Ginny became far too concerned and uncontrollably lunged for for his arm "Draco—wait—are you alright?" She gasped loudly, he felt as cold as ice.

Before she knew what she was doing she was holding Draco's arm in place, slowly looking up and expecting a face of pure disgust along with a rude remark she was shocked to instead meet eye to eye with grey silvery pools, melting intensely into her innocent blue eyes.

In that moment everything around them seemed to disappear. Both bodies stood there with no intention of moving, Ginny's hand still wrapped around his arm. Draco looked back at her in confusion for what felt like years.

Ginny then fought herself to break eye contact and noticed sweat staring to drip down his forehead in the dim lighting that was left in the sky, she tilted her head slightly & gave Draco a now curious look. She had never seen him like this never so quiet, never so still. Both still not daring to move a muscle they could both feel the atmosphere around them closing in. In that very last inaudible moment, Ginny suddenly felt as time had stopped. Looking up at him in this setting felt so surreal to her.

"What's happening?" She finally thought to herself.

She screamed at her body to pull away but could not find the strength amongst herself to do so. Just as if the universe had heard her thoughts—

"Get your putrid paws off me you weasel, what are you playing at!"

"I—I—" Ginny stuttered. "

"Leave me alone and stop following me or I won't hesitate on hexing you next time." Said Draco in a hushed, pained tone.

As he took his arm out of Ginny's tight grasp and walked away until she could hear him no more. Ginny stood there in complete and utter silence and could hear nothing but the roaring wind, still flabbergasted and puzzled about what just happened. One last time she let her now numb from standing legs carry her and find a way out of the forrest and into the castle. She had definitely missed the banquet this year.

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[edited]