Lessons from a Dragon (Ruphhausin and Finn)

Draco first went up to his room, changing a bit so that he could relax. He looked up at the ceiling, thinking about the fact he wanted Ginny and was willing to just pursue her on his own without help. He had made a lot of decisions that had started distancing himself from his parents wishes, and that was just one of them. He slowly rose from his bed, deciding to go down to the common room. He had gone through the alternate entrance to his room, so he had no idea who may be down there.
 
Ginny was still sitting by the fire, reading a book she had taken from the library the last time she'd been there. She was so engrossed in the book that she hadn't heard Draco enter the room.
 
Draco actually was a bit lost in his own thoughts, so when he sat down, he was not really paying much attention. He had thought over his choice that Snape had given him, and he went over in his mind, without regret, what he had done. It was done in his mind, and the fact that it was brought on by both semi-jealous admiration and for determination of not being like the person he had a love/hate relationship with made him more resolute of it. He had done the right thing, and he knew that it was the most right thing he ever did.

He then noticed Ginny out of the corner of his eye, and he slowly looked up at her, smiling a slightly sadly tinged smile at her. He was hiding it well, but Ginny may see it a bit. He didn't bother her for the moment if she didn't want to be bothered, as he was going to spring his plan on her several more weeks into the semester.
 
Ginny could feel eyes on her, glancing up as she closed the book she'd been reading. She didn't know how she'd missed hearing Draco enter, but there he was, with that sad look to his eyes again. Getting up, she moved to sit next to Draco, wanting to hug him but wasn't sure how he would react to it. "What's wrong, Draco? I don't think I have ever seen you look so sad before."
 
"Ginevra... Ginny.... I know that you have been put into Slytherin not by choice and you are dealing with how that has affected you. But have you ever made a choice, and though you know it is the right one, there will be things that are wrong you will have to deal with because you made the choice?"

He was sincere, something that he knew was going to be a surprise to her.
 
Ginny didn't really like people calling her by her given name, preferring the use of her nickname instead. But when she heard Draco say it, though he quickly corrected himself, caused a light fluttering in her chest. Not that she would ever admit to it, knowing how her family felt about the Malfoys. Even if they never spoke to her again, it didn't change the fact that she was supposed to be an enemy of the boy she was currently speaking to. She could hear the sincerity in his voice as he continued, though she still had her doubts as to whether she could trust him completely.

"I can't really say that I have, Draco. Have you?"

She was pretty sure he had, since he was the one to pose the question, but if he didn't want to go into detail, she wasn't going to press him beyond his comfort level.
 
"Actually, I have. I am not uncertain nor doubtful about it, but I know it is the right one. Life is not a popularity contest."

Draco remembered Snape telling him that, and the fact that he was going against what was popular among many was something he had thought long and hard about. Snape had seen something in him, and when he and Dumbledore had spoken to him he knew what he was doing was true. He then looked at her, his eyes holding both his desire for her and that sad look in his eyes.

"That is the first step in being an adult, you know. Making choices and knowing that you made the right one despite how wrong it will be for you."
 
"But how can I be sure that any choices I make is the right one for me or not?"

Ginny stared in the fire for a few moments, going over Draco's words in her head. She'd avoided approaching Harry before because of his friendship with her brother, but now she knew it was best if she no longer did that. The next time she saw him, she would ask him if they could go together the next time they were allowed to go to Hogsmeade.
 
"You don't know until it is time for you to know. I know that is not as helpful as it should be, Ginny, but that is the truth. Every decision has a moment of clarity, sometimes right before, sometimes during making it, and sometimes well after you have made it. The fact is that, we all have blinders on that reflect our different perceptions, and it takes time to see past them even when we have made the right choices."

He was starting to sound like both Snape and Dumbledore, and he was not certain he was helping her at all.
 
"Thanks for the advice, Draco. I know what I have to do now."

She smiled over at him, reaching to get a scrap piece of parchment so she could write a little note to Harry. Folding it up, she stood and headed out of the common room to make her way up to the Owlery. If she couldn't approach him to invite him to Hogsmeade over the weekend, she could always owl him.
 
Draco didn't know what she was going to do specifically, rather he knew that any correspondence she wrote to anyone would suddenly be his to see. He was not going to stop her, as he would know only after she wrote it. What would happen then she would not know until he wrote the reply.
 
After sending the letter off with one of the school owls, Ginny headed back down to the Slytherin common room. If Draco was still here, she'd offer a quick good night before heading for the girl's dormitory.

At breakfast the next morning, Ginny sat so she could see the Gryffindor table. She was waiting to see if Harry got the note she sent him, hoping that he would accept her invitation. Only she was unaware that the person the note had actually gone to was not who she intended.
 
Draco had already written the reply to her, but Potter looking up and smiling at Ginny went a long way to helping with what he had done. He knew that it was the right thing to do, though that was not the "right thing" he had mentioned to her last night. Potter waved, Ron being too occupied with Hermione at the moment. Draco smiled, very intently realizing that, now, his letter would be received as he intended very easily by Ginny.
 
Ginny smiled, waving back at Harry. She couldn't wait for the weekend, when she and Harry would be going to Hogsmeade together. At least that's what she thought. There wasn't anything that could ruin her good mood, not even Pansy could do anything to destroy her happiness.

Later that day, Ginny was in the library working on her homework. She hoped to get a chance to talk to Harry alone about the note she'd sent him, but she'd yet to see him away from her brother and Hermione. The girl wasn't that bad, but the three were very rarely ever apart from each other, which made it extremely hard for her to talk to Harry.
 
Draco and Potter had an uneasy truce between them now, especially after Dumbledore had them both in his office. Things were changing, something that Snape even was emphasizing some in his classes subtly to some students. It was especially so after a surprised recount vote that caused some unexpectedly pleasant changes in the Ministry, and now Potter was spending a little time each day discussing things with people from the Ministry. Draco, though much more clandestinely, also was at some of those discussions, but that was not for others eyes or ears to know.
 
Ginny could hear a couple students at the next table talking about the changes that have been occurring in the Ministry, and was a little worried about what would happen if her father lost his job there. She was just about to leave the library, having decided her homework could wait since she could get Draco's help with it later, when she saw Ron walking past. It surprised her that her brother wasn't with his two friends, but she followed him to wherever he was going. "Hey Ron, wait up. I was wondering if Mum and Dad have contacted you about the changes at Dad's work?"
 
Ron turned to her, seeing this as a reason to talk to her.

"Gin... Didn't... no.. you couldn't have. Dad has been promoted.. and he and Mom are going to be here sometime in the semester."

He was smiling, as their parents were very much wanting to to see what was going on during the year.
 
Ginny looked a little unsure as to whether or not she should believe him, but he really had no reason to lie to her. The look of uncertainty was soon replaced by a smile as the news sunk in. "Tell Dad I'm happy for him when they come." Still smiling, she walked back to the Slytherin common room, wondering what other changes has been going on at the Ministry.
 
Draco had another one of his quiet meetings with Snape, as warning for something that may be happening very soon. He and Snape made everything they said sound like a class discussion, when in truth they were hiding everything behind coded words they had agreed on. After the meeting, he was walking down the hall, a folded list of study sources in his hand as he spotted Ginny.
 
Ginny was heading back to the library after dropping her books off at her dormitory, not noticing Draco coming out of Snape's office. She walked between the stacks, looking for something to read.
 
Draco was not following Ginny, but he was reading something. It was a smaller book of spells and potions, and he was absorbed in it as he was looking for something in particular. He suddenly crashed into Ginny, and before they knew it, they were on the ground. He was almost on top of her, his legs and pelvis thankfully to one side as his chest was on hers. He was stunned, unable to say anything he was so flustered at the moment.
 
Ginny hadn't really been paying attention to where she was going other, thinking about what Ron had said a few minutes before. If she had been watching where she was going, she probably would have been able to avoid colliding with Draco. Blinking up at her when she suddenly found herself on the floor underneath the blond, she shoved him off and got up. "Watch where you're going, Draco. Anyone else probably would have hexed you."
 
Draco picked up the book, smiled with a bemused grin. He was very pleased, as her choice of words told him something that she did not realize she just revealed to him

"So you do not see a reason to hex me... very interesting, Ginny Weasley... very interesting indeed."

He was teasing, though he still filed the fact in his memory.
 
Ginny gave him a look when she noticed the amused expression on his face.

"The only reason I haven't hexed you is because we are in the same House, and it wouldn't look good for Slytherin if we went around hexing each other."

She pushed past him to continue to the library, but she held no ill will toward him.
 
Draco smiled still, watching Ginny walk away. She had a very perfect ass, and he thought a good deal about what he wanted to do to and with her as he returned to doing what he had come to the library for. She actually cared about the House, and that meant a lot to him. He soon was back in class, thinking about Ginny. Pansy was not happy with how Draco was ignoring her, but she did not pick up on his interactions with Ginny at all. She was too busy sulking, and that was what Draco wanted. He knew that, later, she would get his carefully forged letter "from Potter", and that Ginny would be more than ready for what he was planning.
 
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