THE DRAGONS FIRE

Chapter 5

Ginny arrived in the Gryffindor common room after her talk with Draco.

Now we're getting somewhere, she thought. Who knows what could happen next.

"Hey Gin, come here," Ron called from across the common room.

What is he doing up? she thought.

"Hey, Ron, how come you're still up?"

"I wanted to apologize again for-" Just then Ron stopped talking and his gaze flickered to Ginny's arms. A look of shock and anger came across his face.

The bruises! Shit! Why didn't I wear robes?

"Who did that to you Ginny?"

"Ron, it's nothing."

"Who did it?"

"None of your business."

"Was it Malfoy? Did he do that to you when you were patrolling? If he did, I'll kill him!"

Ginny had never been good at lying to her brother, and was just about to make an attempt that surely would have failed, when she was interrupted.

"Gin! I really need to talk to you. Come here!" Hermione yelled from the stairs to the girls dormitories.

"Sure thing, Hermione. Oh, Ron, apology accepted." And with that she made a mad dash to the stairs before Ron could say anything else.

When the girls got to Hermione's room, they went inside and sat down on Hermione's bed before closing the curtains.

"Thanks so much, Mione! You just saved me from a Ron-attack!"

"No problem. But did Malfoy give you those bruises? Because if he did then maybe this isn't such a good idea."

"Oh. I told you he grabbed me and slammed me against the wall yesterday on patrols. But he apologized tonight! A Malfoy! Apologizing! To a Weasley!"

"Wow. He must really like you."

"Oh, I don't think so. But who knows, right?"

"Yep, stranger things have happened." Hermione winked at her. "Hey, do you want me to heal those bruises for you? Maybe if Ron doesn't see them again he won't say anything. Out of sight, out of mind, right?"

"Sure, thanks. I think I'm going to go up to bed though, I'm kind of tired."

Hermione finished healing Ginny's bruises and Ginny left for her own dorm. She got ready for bed and her dreams were once again filled with Draco Malfoy.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Draco got back to the dungeons after patrolling, Blaise was sitting in the common room doing homework. Draco decided to have a talk with his friend, and see if he could get an opinion on his 'situation' with Ginny.

"Hey Blaise."

"Drake! How was patrolling?"

"Fine. Didn't give Gi-er-Weaselette any new bruises."

"You can call her Ginny you know. And what do you mean, new bruises? You bruised her?"

"Yes, and I apologized so don't worry about it."

"What?! I thought Malfoys didn't apologize?"

"They don't. But I'm not really a Malfoy anymore, am I?"

"I guess not. So anything else exciting happen?" Blaise winked.

"No, Blaise. Well," Draco said, and then continued to tell Blaise about his talk with Ginny.