Draco actually flushed, the tops of his cheekbones turning dark red.
'No. I didn't snog Hermione again.'
Ginny stared. 'So it was somebody else? Draco, when did you find the time?'
Draco sighed and flopped backwards against the wall, looking at her guiltily. 'It was Fleur Delacour.'
'Fleur? Bill's girlfriend?'
'I'd forgotten about that…look, there were special circumstances. I had to.'
'Had to?' Ginny stared at him in disbelief. 'You're really just moral garbage, aren't you?'
Draco looked wounded. 'You say that like it's a bad thing.'
Ginny threw a pillow at him, which he made no move to block.
Instead he smiled, which was greatly annoying, because Ginny had always privately thought that he had a lovely smile. He was oddly like Harry in that when he smiled, he smiled with his whole face -
not just his mouth but his eyes. Of course, he smiled much less frequently than Harry, but the resemblance was there. 'Do you care what I do, one way or the other?'
'No,' said Ginny, and then, 'Well. Maybe.' She sighed. 'You're just so…fickle.'
'Fickle? I am not fickle.'
'Yes, you are. You're meant to be pining for Hermione, but you flirt with me — yes, you do, don't deny it — and in the meantime you're snogging Fleur. You're fickle.'
'I'm not fickle, I'm just a Malfoy. In the good old days, the head of the Malfoy household would have nine, ten wives maybe and I assure you he was most devoted to them all.'
'Is there anything you don't joke about?'
Draco looked amused. 'What makes you think I'm joking?' He reached over then, and gently touched one of her braids. 'Your ribbon's coming undone,' he said, deftly retied it, and sat back.
Ginny stared at him. It had been an oddly — well, brotherly wasn't really the word, as none of her brothers would have noticed something amiss with her hair — affectionate gesture. She sighed. 'I just wish you'd be honest,' she said.
Draco's eyes darkened. 'I don't lie.'
This gave Ginny momentary pause. He doesn't lie, she thought, does he… He didn't even lie about the love potion…just didn't mention it, and she was fairly sure that Hermione had made him promise to do that. She bit her lip and was about to respond when there was a sharp knock on her door. 'Ginny!' came Ron's sharp voice. 'I know you're in there. I heard you.'
'Go away, Ron!' Ginny yelled back.
'No,' said Ron stubbornly. 'I am not going away. I'm giving you one minute and then I'm going to knock the door down.'
Ginny looked wildly at Draco, then grabbed his arm and dragged him over to her closet. She yanked the door open and pushed him inside. Standing on top of a pile of her shoes, he looked at her with doleful eyes. 'This is really uncomfortable,' he whined.
'You weren't complaining when you dragged me under the sofa.'
'That was different. I had you for company.' He gave her a sunny smile. 'It's not the same as being shut in a closet alone.'
'Time for you to learn to entertain yourself,' said Ginny, about to shut the door.
His sunny smile turned devilish. 'My mother always said that would make me go blind,' he said.
'Argh,' replied Ginny, and slammed the closet shut.
She turned quickly, pointed her wand at her bedroom door, and said 'Alohomora!'
The door burst open and Ron half-fell into the room. He recovered his footing quickly, straightened up, and glared at her. 'What is your problem, Gin? Didn't you hear me calling you all over the house for the past half hour?'
'No,' Ginny lied. 'I was sleeping.'
'I heard you yelling.'
'I was having a bad dream.'
This piece of information had the opposite effect that Ginny had intended, as Ron immediately stepped farther into the room, looking concerned. 'Are you sure you're okay? Do you want me to sit with you?'
'I'm fine,' said Ginny irritably. 'I'm not twelve any more, Ron.'
'I know that. But you're really sensitive to Dark magic, and we've been around a lot of it lately. Don't tell me it hasn't upset you.'
Ginny sighed, torn between the urge to shove Ron out of the room and the urge to sniffle and have him pat her head. Of all her brothers, Ron was her favorite. Fred and George made her laugh more, but Ron had an earnest sweetness that was very restful to be around.
'And look,' added Ron, toeing the ground a bit, 'I'm sorry about all the stuff I said about Malfoy at breakfast.'
Ginny gaped at him in horror. 'Ron, it's okay, I-'
'No,' he said, holding up a hand. 'Let me finish. I don't like Malfoy, I'm never going to like him, I still think he's a low-life, double-crossing sleazeball with all the charm of a week-old head of lettuce.
But if you really like him all that much, I'll uh…I'll make an effort to find something worthwhile about him. And I won't downgrade him in front of Mum. Okay?'
