Chapter 310 - Ginny's Secret

Feeling a little disoriented and wondering what Professor Trelawney's cards meant, Chris started walking again, not seeing where she was going. Everyone thought Professor Trelawney a fraud and though she looked like a fraud, Chris knew she predicted truth most of the times. Maybe in different or twisted ways but her predictions do come true. So the spades prediction meant something but what? Not to mention that 'disaster coming near'. 

Are Riddle and Malgino going to attack Hogwarts? 

But they are afraid of Dumbledore. 

But Dumbledore doesn't stay at Hogwarts all the time.

Long and hard journey. Ambition and cleverness. Trapped. Violence.

Hard journey. Ambition. Trapped. Violence.

Journey. Violence.

Chris was so distracted that she walked straight through a wall at the end of the seventh-floor corridor. She didn't know the wall was just pretending to be a wall and there was an empty space behind it. The room wasn't that small and a few chairs and desks were scattered around. Soft light of three lanterns illuminated half of the place and half stayed hidden in the dark.

I could have used this place for potion making rather than Myrtle's bathroom if I knew about it before. Well, there's always next year.

Chris' eyes swept around the room for a brief moment then she turned to leave but a movement in the dark corner caught her eyes. There were people. At least two but what they were doing was unclear. Chris clutched her wand as Professor Trelawney's words flashed in her mind. Without making noise she crept nearer and her eyes adjusted to the low light. Chris was happy that she was getting good at her stealthy walk. But soon she realized that the people were too busy to notice her. A girl and a boy were locked in a close embrace and were kissing each other fiercely. 

Chris was ready to run back as soon as she understood what she had walked into but then she noticed who the people were. Though the girl's face was half-hidden, her fiery red hair was hard to miss and it looked like a painting as it fell on the boy's pale skin and white-blonde hair. Chris' mouth fell open as she watched them. But before she could process that, she realized that they were about to do more than kissing, so before she could see something more, she closed her eyes and shrieked.

"Oh my God! Stop! Stop!"

There was a noise like a plunger being withdrawn from a blocked sink and then a voice said, "Chris? I can explain. I was just about to tell you."

"No, you don't have to," Chris mumbled, mentally scolding herself for screaming. "I'm sorry. I should have left."

"It's not like — I mean —" Ginny stammered and Chris opened her eyes to see her blushing furiously while fixing her hair and robes.

"Why do you always have to be there where you have no business, Norton?" groaned Draco Malfoy.

Chris felt more embarrassed but held her gaze straight as Ginny shoved him away glaring.

"Don't be a jerk, Draco."

Now that they were standing apart and Chris had no feeling of seeing some unwanted things, she turned to Ginny, "How? When? How did this happen? How long are you two secretly dating?"

"We are not dating —" Ginny said hastily but then bit her lip looking guilty as Draco looked hurt at her words.

"Well, I have seen too much to buy that whole 'not dating' thing," said Chris coolly.

"Yeah, about that," said Draco trying to look cool but Chris could see his uneasiness. "What are you doing here? You are not supposed to know about this place."

"I accidentally walked in," Chris replied.

"You accidentally walk straight into walls?" Draco almost laughed. "You are weirder than I thought."

Chris rolled her eyes and Ginny stepped between them.

"Okay, that's it," she said. "We are not fighting here about anything. Draco, I will see you later and Chris, come with me."

"What do you see in him?" Chris asked Ginny as soon as they walked out of the hidden wall room. "And how do you know about this room?"

"Fred and George used to store their joke shop things here," said Ginny walking. "They told me about it before leaving last year."

"And you didn't tell me that," said Chris catching up with her. "I could have used that place for my potions practice but — never mind, so is he your that deep and dark secret that you kept in the fear of being judged? How long are you two 'not' dating?"

"Chris, don't be mean," said Ginny. "We are really not dating. You know what will happen if people know we are seeing each other, especially with my family and his. The thing you saw —" Ginny hid her blush. "That sort of happened. I don't know what we were doing."

"I'm sure Draco did know," whispered Chris. "Gin, do you really like him? You hated him."

"I didn't — okay fine, I did hate him," Ginny sighed and sat down on the stairs. "But Chris, the Draco I know now is very very very different from the Draco Malfoy we knew before. He is not that snobby, bully, despicable, rich wizard kid."

"Then what is he now?" Chris asked sitting down beside her.

"He is — how do I explain? Okay, so after Bellatrix killed Andromeda, Draco's mother Narcissa got really worried. Because Draco's father had already lost his reputation among the Death Eaters and failed miserably in a few tasks. To make matters worse they wanted to punish Draco for his father's faults. Narcissa thought their family could be next to die if anything went wrong and then Dumbledore offered his help and Narcissa took it. She wanted to save Draco from this mess and Dumbledore promised that."

"Draco told you all of this?" Chris murmured in shock.

"Why do you think I'm sticking up for him?" Ginny smiled. "All of this had changed everything in Draco's life, Chris. His father was his hero, a person he always looked up to. He believed whatever his father believed or asked him to believe. He spent all his life to impress his father."

"I think I know what you mean," said Chris remembering the conversation at the Quidditch World Cup stadium. "I have seen his father scolding him for not being better than Harry, two years ago in the Quidditch World Cup."

"You never mentioned it," said Ginny surprised.

"Well, I didn't know back then that you will end up snogging him," Chris teased. "Anyway, I understood that he was feeling pretty down. Then?"

"Not just pretty down," said Ginny sadly. "He felt like his entire existence had fallen apart. It was very hard for him, it still is. When I started to have fights with Dean, I used to slip into empty classrooms and places to be alone. I didn't bother you because you were having problems with Jason as well. At that time, Draco and I started talking at first, we acted like enemies like we always did then as we started to spend more and more time together, things changed. We talked about things like our childhood, families, friends and school. You know Chris, opening up to him was easier than I thought. We talked about things we didn't tell our friends and family just so they don't worry about us."

"Does he feels the same?" asked Chris finally.

"He says so," Ginny shrugged. "But as I said before, I still don't know if that's a good thing. What will happen if others know about us? Ron will try to kill him. Not only Ron but Fred and George too."

"First, Ron hates every boy who dates you and second, when did you care about what others will say?" said Chris holding Ginny's hand. "And well, I think Draco did change. I mean he didn't call me Mudblood in more than a year."

"He won't because if he does I will punch him and dump him," said Ginny fiercely.

"I thought you said you aren't dating," Chris raised her eyebrows.

"Well, for now," said Ginny. 

They stared at each other for a second then burst into a fit of giggles.

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To be continued. . .