Traitoress

Half Made Plans and Misunderstandings

Draco placed a mug of steaming Butterbeer in front of Ginny and sipped his own slowly. The Leaky Cauldron was almost empty at this time of night, and the two of them were in a secluded corner of the pub where no one could see or hear them without being seen or heard themselves.

"So…" Draco drawled and placed his mug on the table. "Any ideas on finding Potter?"

"He’s searching for something to defeat the Dark Lord, I know that much," Ginny replied. "He took a tent from Mr Weasley so I assume he’s in the countryside, avoiding built-up areas where there could be wizards or Snatchers."

"Well, that narrows it down then, doesn’t it?" Draco rolled his eyes.

She shot him a scowl then stirred her Butterbeer thoughtfully. "If he’s searching for something to defeat the Dark Lord, then perhaps he is looking for something of the Dark Lord’s."

Draco looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, who is the most powerful wizard of all time? Voldemort. Harry Potter is just an ordinary wizard. He needs something to rival the Dark Lord’s power, so he must need something belonging to the Dark Lord. So - "

"If we want to find Potter, we must look for an item belong to the Dark Lord!" Draco breathed. "That’s pretty clever."

She grinned. "It’s what I do."

- - - - -

"So, where will You-Know-Who be based?" Hermione asked as she paced up and down the tent.

"Department of Mysteries?" Ron suggested. "He has control of the Ministry, after all."

"Let’s face it, he could be anywhere!" Harry said in frustration. "And Ginny could be anywhere…"

"Not just anywhere!" Ron exclaimed suddenly, his eyes alight with excitement. "Malfoy Manor!"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance. "It could work," Hermione admitted. "But the security there is crazy! No one can get in or out without the permission of the Malfoys."

"So we get the permission of a Malfoy," Harry’s eyes gleamed sinisterly, and the other two immediately knew which Malfoy Harry planned on capturing.

"How do we get to a Malfoy?" Hermione fretted. "They’ll be surrounded by Death Eater friends at all times."

"We’ll work it out once we get there," Harry replied and began to pack things up. He couldn’t wait to do something at last, even if it didn’t help with his quest for the Horcruxes.

- - - - -

Draco and Ginny had been forced to take their talk of strategies up to Ginny’s bedroom after the bartender began to clear up. They had a bottle of champagne each that they swigged from irregularly as they sat on the bed, and several shot glasses were scattered across the tables and shelves of her room.

"My idea is," Draco hiccupped and then continued, oblivious to Ginny’s laughing fit, "we get Potter by getting the woman he loves as bait."

Ginny stopped laughing to consider this possibility, then choked out, "That’s me!" and collapsed into laughter again, Draco joining in.

"You’re funny," Draco hiccupped again and swigged more champagne.

"No, you’re funny," Ginny argued.

"You are!"

"You are!" Ginny leant over to poke his shoulder and fell over on the bed. Suddenly all laughter stopped as they looked into each other’s eyes.

"You make me laugh more than anyone else," Ginny whispered.

"You let me be myself," Draco whispered in reply, and leant down and kissed her.

Her arm crept around his neck and pulled him down next to her, and he wound his hands into her red hair.

She pulled away after a few minutes and curled up against his chest. "Thank you," she murmured, already half asleep.

"For what?" he smiled.

"For making me feel as if you care."

He froze in surprise, and finally replied, "I do care." But her gentle breathing as she lay in his arms told him she hadn’t heard his last sentence.

The moonlight filtered in through the window and illuminated the room as Draco sighed and tightened his arms around her and tried to sleep.

- - - - -

The pitter-patter of rain on the window woke Ginny the next morning, as it got inside her head and made her wince in pain.

Only then did she notice the arms around her. She rolled over and saw Draco’s sleeping face. Remembering nothing of the night before, she pulled herself out of his embrace and crossed to where she’d left her bag, swearing to herself under her breath.

"Oh my God, please don’t say I slept with Draco Malfoy," she prayed.

"What?" Draco was sitting up and stretching. Her sentence registered in his head suddenly and he started to grin.

"Stop it!" she glared. "It’s not funny!"

"You think I slept with you!" he grinned, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"So…we didn’t?" she asked, and couldn’t stop a smile of relief spreading across her face.

"There’s no need to look so relieved!" he said, looking hurt. "I’m not bad…"

"Says who?" she teased.

"All the women I’ve slept with!" he defended himself.

She raised an eyebrow. "Not that I‘ve spoken to them about it," he admitted

quietly.

"Shit," Ginny laughed. "Seriously? How many?"

He refused to look at her, then decided to himself, screw her, he was proud of his conquests. "About twenty."

She laughed again. "And I was expecting more. Some Slytherin sex-god you are."

He glared at her, then asked, "And how many men have you slept with?"

She blushed deeply. "None," she said far too quickly to be believable.

He laughed. "I was honest with you; you could do the same for me," he said. "Or do I have to find out for myself?"

"You are not going in my head!" she hissed. "Six, okay?"

"Holy crap!" Draco looked shocked. "Six? You’re a year younger than me!"

"You want to know who?" she asked, and knew immediately that he did. "Dean Thomas, Michael Corner, Roger Davies, Blaise Zabini, my neighbour Henry Tomlins and Harry Potter."

"You slept with Zabini?" Draco exclaimed. "He swore he’d never touched you!"

She grinned. "Jealous, are we?"

"No!" he argued. "Just annoyed Blaise lied to me." A wicked glint suddenly entered his eye. "How many did you sleep with when you were dating Potter?"

She glared at him. "That’s my business."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Stop doing that!" she said, annoyed.

"Tell me!" he retorted.

"Fine!" she looked at her feet, and muttered, "Three of them."

Draco was enjoying himself. "You slept with three other guys while you were seeing Potter?"

"Oh, piss off," she said and gave him the finger, which made him laugh even more