Ginny watched as Fleur slowly sat up in bed. She was paper-white and her breathing was just beginning to steady, but she seemed to be improving. She glanced over at where Ginny stood, wrapped in the Invisibility Cloak.
'It is very rude to be invisible when people know you are there,' she said coolly.
Ginny let the cloak slide down to her feet and glared. 'It is very rude to pretend you don?t know peoples names when you perfectly well do,' she snapped.
Fleur suddenly smiled. 'It 'as been nearly two years since I last saw you,' she said. 'You 'ave changed. A great deal.'
Ginny hesitated, not sure if this was going to turn into a compliment or an insult.
'The Ginny Weasley I knew would not 'ave told off Draco Malfoy in such uncertain terms. I was… impressed.'
'You were jealous,' said Ginny, rather nastily.
'I was not. I was a bit afraid I was going to be treated to more of a floor show than I wanted. I am not a voyeur.'
Ginny blushed furiously. 'I wouldn?t — we wouldn?t have — '
Fleur leaned back on the cushions and grinned. 'Are you quite sure of that?'
Ginny set her chin stubbornly. 'He wouldn?t have. He doesn?t really want me.'
Fleur gave an unladylike snort. 'Thats not what it looked like.'
'He was drunk,' said Ginny shortly, hating herself for the vulnerability she heard in her own voice. She deserved nothing better, she thought, for being stupid enough to get involved with Draco in the first place. Not that they were, per se, involved. For being stupid enough to allow herself to have feelings for him, then.
Of course, feelings couldn?t be controlled. She tried to think back -
was there some particular moment that her old hatred had been swept away as if by a fire, and this new feeling had been born out of the ashes? It wasn?t the same feeling she had had for Harry, comprised of sincere admiration and liking. This was more basic, primal even, as if it grew out of some very deep place in her heart that could be neither controlled, nor comprehended, nor solaced in its disappointment. To her horror, she felt tears welling up in her eyes.
Fleur reached out, and put an arm around her shoulder. 'There is no reason to cry.'
Ginny opened her eyes very wide, willing the tears to go away. 'You don?t understand.'
'I do understand,' said Fleur, and patted her shoulder. 'Its Draco.
'Es special.'
Ginny snorted, the tears fading. 'And by special you mean sexy.
Don?t you?'
Fleur shrugged. 'That is a fact. That boy will never have to worry about being lonely. He probably gets anonymous snog sessions in the mail. He could have any girl.'
Ginny smiled weakly, and poked at a pillow with the toe of her shoe.
'Except the only one he really wants,' she said, her voice sounding sadder than she had meant it to. 'He can never have her.'
Fleur looked at her closely. When she spoke again, her voice was gentle. 'Draco is only sixteen,' she said. 'Its a little early for 'onlyand 'neverand all that.'
'Not if you?re Draco Malfoy,' said Ginny firmly. 'But you probably know that.'
Fleur settled back among the pillows. 'We 'ave only ever kissed, and that is all.'
Ginnys heart bumped against her chest, but she didn?t change expression. 'You mean you haven?t — you didn?t — ?'
Fleur shook her head.
'And when did all this restraint take place?' Ginny snapped.
'It was only two kisses, and I don?t think 'e wanted either of them.'
Fleur smiled. She had the easy confidence of a girl who knew that, for every Draco Malfoy who didn?t want to kiss her, there would be ten other men who would. 'E is not an easy one, that one. 'E 'as secrets, and much darkness; 'e could be something very special, but that is not always a lucky thing.'
Ginny hesitated. She was picturing Draco now, in her head.
Sometimes when she closed her eyes and visualized him, she saw Tom instead. Tom who she had never really clearly seen, only in dreamed-of diary pages, but whose face was branded into her memory. Tom with his black hair like Harrys, and his eyes as blue as her brothers', better-looking than any boy she had ever known, and more frightening for it. All that terrible beauty rotting into evil, that clever brain fermenting into a sewer, so much more horrible for everything he could have been.
She looked down. 'Fleur,' she said. 'Why are you being nice to me?
Harry told me what you did, but I can?t believe — was he wrong? Did you not betray them?'
'Its a long story.' Fleur looked away, dropping his hands into her lap. 'My sister,' she went on, a little haltingly. 'Gabrielle.'
'The youngest one? I?ve met her. Is she ill, or dying…?'
Fleur shook her head. 'No. She was born without any magic.'
'Oh.' Ginny opened her mouth, then shut it again. 'A Squib?'
'Yes, thats what its called 'ere.'
'Well, thats pretty terrible, but there are worse things — '
