Skating Lessons

The bell rang.

"And that's the end of class!" announced Professor Flitwick cheerily. "As you know, there will be no classes for the rest of the week due to the Christmas Holidays!"

The class cheered. The students started getting their schoolbooks together and headed out the door. It was Christmas Eve and everyone was excited and was going to Hogsmeade for the last of their Christmas shopping. All except a downhearted Ginny Weasley, who was leaving slower than her cheery classmates. She never looked forward to Christmas, it was the same every year, the so-called fantastic Trio would invite her to go with them for some Christmas festivities, just the four of them -out of pity, might I add- and then completely ignore her once they started celebrating. Well now it was going to end, she wouldn't go with them to be left alone. It was her sixth year and she was sick of it. She packed up her things and walked out the door. Ah, alone time, she thought.

"Hey Ginny!" It was Colin Creevey, grinning broadly and heading towards her.

"Hey Colin," said Ginny with a weak smile, pretending to be happy.

"I was wondering, if you wanted to... I mean... you don't have to-"

"Just spill it, Colin!" Ginny demanded impatiently.

" Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me today?" he asked quickly. Ginny looked at him. So he finally conjured up a backbone and made the first move, she thought.

"I'm afraid I already have plans, sorry," she replied briskly, not sounding sorry at all, even though she knew Colin had liked her. She tried to quickly walk past him, but he blocked her.

"I don't get it," he started with a puzzled look on his face, "you know how I feel about you, and yet you refuse. Why do you spend time with your brother and his friends when they don't even care for you and ignore you? Why would you love someone who completely ignores you?"

"I don't," responded Ginny coldly, and she quickly sidestepped him before he could block her again. "And by the way," she added as she turned around to look at him, "why would you love someone who completely ignores you?" And with that, she walked away without another word, leaving Colin in the hallway, receiving sneers from people who witnessed their conversation.

She continued walking until she reached her favorite spot: the bench under the willow tree, right in front of the lake. A rush of wind blew into her face as she blew into her hands to adjust to the coldness. All she was wearing was her Hogwarts uniform, robe included, with her, hat and scarf, which were both were worn and threadbare. She was cold, but she enjoyed the cold weather. She walked to the bench and sat down, looking over to the lake. The lake was frozen, and people were skating on it. Around the lake was thick blanket of snow, covering all of the greenness of the grass. The trees surrounding it were also covered in snow. Ginny was finally was starting to relax when a drawling voice caught her attention.

"Well if it isn't a junior Weasel," drawled the voice of Draco Malfoy.

"Can't you people just leave me alone?" muttered Ginny under her breath.

"Well, what's the fun in that?" replied Draco, who obviously heard her.

"Oh leave me alone, Malfoy," she said, not looking at him.

"Oh, I see, we need time to fantasize about marrying Potter, do we?" he said in mock sympathy.

No answer.

"What's the matter Weasel? Need to cry?"

No answer.

"Is wittle Weasel having a woss for words?" he said in a baby voice.

Still no answer.

"Oh come on Weasel, what's the point of annoying you when you won't try and annoy me back?" asked Draco.

"Are you really that bored, Malfoy?" asked Ginny, turning around to face him.

"Does it show?" He sat down on the bench, on the opposite end.

"Yes."

"Okay then, let's imagine we're friends, okay? Now hypothetically, if I was your friend, what would we do to have fun?"

"Hypothetically? Well, we would have a better conversation for starters."

"You got it." He put on an excited face, "Oh Virginia! I haven't talked with you in ages!" He put an emphasis on the word 'ages' so that it sounded like a girlish squeal, Ginny tried not to laugh. "How are you? Ooh! I love that nail polish! Can I borrow it? That do you well?" he asked, putting on his normal expression.

Ginny looked at him, amused. "I suppose."

"That wasn't any fun, what do we do now?"

Ginny looked at the lake, and yearned to skate. "We go skating."

Draco looked at her with surprise, "I... I don't do skating."

Ginny scoffed, "As my hypothetical friend you do." She pulled out her ice skates from her bag, which she carried with her during the winter. They were made of brown leather and were very old and torn. Draco noticed this.

"Oops, sorry, don't have any skates." He was trying to get out of it.

"Hey Dean!" Ginny called to Dean, across the field, "Can I borrow your skates?"

"Yeah, sure!" he called back. " Be careful, they're new!"

"See, they're even new, Malfoy," she told him. "Thank you Dean! Accio skates!" said Ginny with the help of the wand and the skates were in her lap. She put them on Draco's. He just stared at them, as if not knowing what to do.

"Well, put them on."

"Err... okay." He put them on his feet, leaving them untied. "What next?"

"Tie them."

Draco looked at the skates dumbly. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I'll tie them," she said, having hers on already. She kneeled down before him, tying them up. "There, let's go." She got up and started walking towards the lake. Draco didn't follow her.

"Well? Let's go, hypothetical friend!"

"I-err-uh..." he stuttered.

"O God, you don't know how to skate." She looked at the ground for a while and made up her mind. "Fine I'll teach you."

"You are going to teach me something?" He looked at her in disbelief.

"Well, you are my friend," she said as if it was obvious. "Hypothetically," she added. Draco stayed seated. Ginny grabbed Malfoy's wrist and tried to drag him to the ice. He only leaned forward, and her hand slid off his fingers, along with something else, and she fell to the ground.

"Fine then, good-bye," she said, trying to sound defeated. "This is a lovely ring, Malfoy, thank you!" She showed him her left hand and there it was, his emerald ring, with a golden band and his name engraved on it.

"Hey! Give that back, Weasel!" He finally got up. She walked to the lake and started skating around it. Draco walked up to the lake and ran after her on the ice, not realizing he was on it. He almost caught up to her but he tripped and fell on his front. Everyone stopped skating and looked at Draco and started laughing. Draco turned a bright shade of red. Ginny stopped too, and looked at him. She started to feel sorry for him and skated towards him to help him up.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly. He sat up and touched his lip. Blood was flowing freely from it.

"I'm fine." He glared at her. "Thank you for humiliating me," he said coldly.

"Well I was only being a hypothetical friend, trying to help face your fears."

"Who says I'm afraid?"

"It shows, c'mon let's get you inside." She helped him up and started leading him off the ice. Everyone was looking at them in shock. One kid was still laughing.

"Aww... look at Weasley and Malfoy!" He was still laughing.

Ginny discreetly took out her wand and pointed it at him. "Rictusempra," she whispered, and the kid fell on his back, making it look like he accidentally tripped. Now everybody was laughing at him. Ginny smiled. She led him into the Great Hall and sat Draco on a couch in front of the fireplace.

"Are you alright?" she asked again, and Draco just gave her a cold stare. "Fine," she said lightly and put her hands up in the air as if in surrender. She turned around and started to walk away.

"No! Don't leave!" Ginny turned around and rose and eyebrow at Draco, who was on the couch and looked disgusted with himself. "I-I mean... stay with me, hypothetical friend."

"Oh so now I'm your hypothetical friend." Draco gave her a 'don't give me that' look. "Fine, I'll stay." She sat on the opposite end of the couch away from Draco.

"Ginny!" came the shrill of Hermione's voice. Ginny turned around. Sure enough, here came Hermione, Ron and Harry walking towards her.

"Ginny! What are you doing with... with HIM?" Ron demanded angrily pointing at Draco.

"We're sitting, what do think we're doing?" Ginny blatantly stated.

"Gin, can we talk to you for a sec?" Ron asked, trying to keep his calm. Ginny looked at Draco. He nodded.

"Okay," she said and got up. The four of them went into a small corner, not too far away from Draco, who could hear them speaking.

"Tomorrow, on Christmas Day," Ron started, "the three of us are going to the gardens, right before the Christmas Ball, want to come, just the four of us?" Just the FOUR of us? Bullshit, she thought, he always said that, whenever he asked to some with them as a mercy alone time. His eyes were sparkling, as if this was the golden opportunity.

"Really? Just the four of us?" Ginny said in mock surprise, the Trio was smiling stupidly, as if they knew she was going to accept. "So that the three of you can have fun while ignoring me, thinking your conscience is cleared just because you invited me along?" The smiles disappeared. She sounded perfectly cheerful, she was smiling and everything. Draco, who was listening, was impressed by how she was handling the situation.

"Now, Gin listen to me," Ron started again in a fatherly tone.

"No, Ron, I'm tired of you three ignoring me all the time whenever I'm around. I'm tired of you finally paying attention to me when I'm doing something you don't approve of. And I'm tired. Of. You." She put a firm emphasis on the last two words.

"I don't ignore you, Gin," said Hermione trying to make it look like she was her guardian angel of the three of them, hoping Ginny would forgive her and that her guilt would be gone.

"Oh gee, thanks Hermione," said Ginny sarcastically, "it's not like you can avoid someone who sleeps in the bed right next to yours." That shut Hermione up.

"Ginny-" Harry began.

"Shut up, Harry, just shut up!" Ginny interrupted. "Don't you start lecturing me too, since you're so oblivious about everything anyway!" Ginny fumed. Well put, Weasel especially to Scarface, Draco pondered. Ginny stormed off and sat next to Draco again. The Trio was in such a shock, they left without a word. Draco began fanning her with his hands.

"Need to cool off Weasel? Especially how you attacked Potter, I commend you." He saluted her with a fancy wave of his hand. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Well he deserved it, thinking I would listen to him, he thinks too much of himself."

"I concur," he said. It was quiet for a moment.

"I'm going to get some hot chocolate, want some?" offered Ginny. He nodded.

So she got up and left. When the coast was clear, Draco heard a 'psssssst.' He turned around. It was Pansy Parkinson.

"Hey Drakie, whacha doin'?" she asked in a high-pitched girlish voice.

"If you ever call me that again, I shall hex you, Pansy." Draco said.

"The Christmas Ball is tomorrow," hinted Pansy, "going with anybody?" she asked, eyes gleaming. "Well it's not like I'm asking you or anything because so many guys have asked me," she quickly covered up. Draco snorted derisively.

"Sure, Pansy, I'm sure they have."

"People are saying we should go together, like we're the cutest couple, isn't that crazy? Like, as if!" She fake laughed, trying to play hard-to-get. Draco wasn't falling for it.

"Like, I know!" he said, playing along, "what a crazy idea!" He began to fake laugh with her, "Why on earth would I go to the ball with you, of all my possible choices?" He fake laughed harder and louder. Pansy found it harder to play hard-to-get after this remark.

"But wouldn't it be cool if we went together? I mean, I need a date, you need a date, and it's expected, so we might as well go together!" she said hopefully, as if it was already decided.

Draco smiled, and then stopped abruptly. "No." He sounded final, Pansy couldn't believe he said no to her. "I have a long list of candidates, and you are no where near the top," he said icily. Pansy pouted.

"Fine! I didn't want to go with you anyway!"

"Right, Pansy," Draco said calmly, adding a little roll to his eyes.

"At least I'm not going alone!"

"Who said I was?" After that, Pansy stormed off as cutely as she could, jutting out her lower lip. She walked right past Ginny.

"What was that all about?" she asked, carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, giving one to Draco. Ginny was about to take a sip.

"Don't, it's hot!" Draco warned, but Ginny took a sip and seemed to not notice the heat of the drink. Draco blew into his. The moment was quiet again. They had both finished their cocoa and they set the mugs to the coffee table in front of them.

"Malfoy?" Ginny asked softly.

"Hmmm?" came the reply.

"Are you really afraid of the ice?" Draco turned to gaze at her.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Mm-hmm," she answered. Draco sighed inwardly.

"Okay," he reluctantly agreed, "when I was four years old, my father took me to a skating pond in the winter. He was trying to teach me how to skate. Anyways, he took me by the hand and led me around the pond for a while. He was going to let go, to let me on my own for a while. He let go at a corner, but we were going too fast and when he let go, I was gliding on the skates, I didn't know how to stop or turn very well so, I... well I crashed into a tree." Ginny tried dreadfully hard not to laugh at the image of little Draco Malfoy crashing into a tree. So she stayed quiet.

"I-uh ...sorry, I won't make you skate again, but it would be good if you faced your fears, you know."

"Why?"

"Well, you'd feel better about yourself," she tried hopefully. Silence. "I see, well, I'll be leaving."

"Wait!" stopped Draco again, "aren't you going to teach me how to skate?" He grinned awkwardly. Ginny smiled.

"I suppose," she responded. She offered her hand to him, he took it and they walked back to the lake. Everyone looked at them.

"Gonna give it another go, Malfoy?" a random kid asked. Draco glared at him and the kid shrank back. Ginny set Draco in front of her and held both of his hands. They both heard a round of ooooohs from the first years. They ignored them.

"Okay Malfoy, what you want to do is put one foot in front of the other." He did. "Good, like that, now, glide your feet, alternating one at a time, very good," she said, as he started moving forward. She was facing him, holding his hands as he skated forward while she skated backwards. People looked at them in disbelief. Draco and Ginny ignored them.

Wow, Weasel's really grown, Draco thought, looking at her. He looked down at her feet, moving gracefully with his wobbly ones, he let his eyes trail upward to her long legs, then thighs, stopping short at her grey skirt. As his eyes moved up, he slowly drank in the feminine curves of her body, to her stomach, then her chest, Draco discreetly let his eyes linger. Yes, Weasel sure has grown. He looked up to her shoulders, which were cloaked by her silky dark red hair. He looked into her face. Her full lips were a shade of crimson, showing dark against her porcelain face. And her nose, pointed to perfection, was a tad red from the coldness. And finally, her eyes, looking down and were shrouded by her eyelashes; they were a golden-brown, full of sadness and hurt. He never noticed how miserable she was until now.

"Weasel?" he asked.

"Hmmm?" She looked up.

"Are you... alright?"

"Yes, I suppose," she lied. "Good, now, I'm going to let go, but I'll leave my hands out in case you feel like you're going to fall."

"Okay," said Draco nervously. She let go. Still unsteady, Draco was slowly moving forward. He stumbled and grabbed her hands. "S-Sorry," he apologized, turning pink. Ginny nodded.

Draco had been skating by himself for a couple hours now, with Ginny in front of him, and was now less shaky and faster. The sun had set, and it was getting dark, most of the students had left the lake by now.

"Okay, you're better now, but it's getting pretty late... we should go." Ginny said. Draco nodded, not quite wanting to leave. They left the rink slowly and took off the skates without a word.

"Here, give me Dean's skates," said Ginny, "I'll give them to him." Draco nodded. They walked into the empty hall.

"Well," Ginny started, "bye."

"Yeah," Draco replied, looking down. "Uh- wait!" Ginny turned around and raised her eyebrows in recognition. "Err... do you want to go to the ball with me?"

"What?" said Ginny in disbelief.

"Uh, well, I don't have a date, and, neither do you, I think, and we need to have dates for this stupid ball thingy and all..." Draco said slowly, having a loss for words for the first time in his life.

Ginny thought it over for a while. Well, it would piss of the Golden Trio, and he's not evil or anything. He is kinda cute, too. Ginny shook herself out of her unbelievable thoughts. Wait... no he's not! Yes he is! No he's not! Ginny was confusing herself as these two thoughts were ping-ponging through her brain. Her gaze fell intently on Malfoy, still waiting for her decision. He held himself elegantly standing tall, arms folded. His silver-grey eyes were focused on her, a naughty strand of blond hair had fallen out of his slicked back style and into his eyes. Yes he is... She decided.

"Okay." Ginny replied, with a shy smile.

"Alright," said Draco with his award-winning devilish grin. "I'll meet you at the bottom of the staircase at err... six? We'll show those three, we'll show them all." Ginny nodded in agreement and smiled slyly. She knew Draco was talking about Harry, Ron and Hermione, he heard their conversation. "Okay, well, see you tomorrow."

"Bye," said Ginny. She turned around and smiled. I have a date, can't wait till The Golden Trio sees us, she thought. She happily headed up the stairs and down the corridors, until someone emerged from a dark hallway. It was Harry.

"Hey Gin, what are you doing out so late?" Harry asked casually.

"Well, I'm going to my dorm," she replied, as if it was totally obvious.

"So, you want to go to the ball with me?" Harry sounded confident; as if he knew her answer was yes. He was smiling smugly. Ginny knew he didn't actually want to go to the ball with her, it was just that he didn't have a date and Ron wanted to make sure Ginny was safe by going with him and not any other guy. In other words, Harry was Ginny's condom. Ginny mentally scowled.

"No." she said and sounded perfectly happy with her choice. All traces of that smug smile on Harry's face vanished.

"What? Why?"

"Because I already have a date." It felt so good saying that to Harry. She walked past Harry smiling, she was practically skipping.

"Who are you going with? Ginny?" Harry yelled after her. Ginny ignored him.

The next morning, Christmas morning, there was a small pile of presents near Ginny's bed. Ginny unwrapped them. Harry, Hermione and Ron all gave her Honeydukes chocolate. Typical. Her brother, Charlie, who was the next best brother to Ron, gave her black dragon hide boots. Ginny squealed in delight, she'd wanted these for quite a while. Her best friend, Pansy Parkinson, though no one knew, they kept it secret, gave her a beautiful satin, crimson coloured gown, along with matching shoes. Ginny gasped. It must have cost a fortune. A note came with it. Ginny read it aloud.

"Don't worry Gin, take it, live a little. Merry Christmas. Pans."

Ginny unwrapped her other best friend's gift, Luna Lovegood. It was a beautiful silver chandelier necklace, with diamonds dusted on the strands. It came with diamond chandelier earrings. Of her trio, Ginny was the only one who was not loaded with money. Because of this, Pansy and Luna loved to lavish her with gifts. Ginny would always be hesitant to take them, because of her humble backgrounds. It came with a similar note to Pansy's. Ginny felt awkward taking the gifts, but she now had something beautiful to wear to the Yule ball. She looked around. There was one last gift wrapped in green and silver wrapping. She slowly opened it, to find white leather ice skates with tan coloured laces criss-crossing up to the top of the skate and her initials in gold near the ankle. They were new and in perfect condition. She tried them on; the skates went up to about a third up her shin. Perfect. There was also a card:

Merry Christmas, Weasel-

Thanks for the lesson. I'll see you at the Yule Ball tonight. These are for you.

-D.M.

P.S. Lighten up a bit. Smile. There you go, doesn't that feel better? The Bloody Fantastic Trio won't buy a sullen face, will they?

Ginny grinned, she knew very well who 'D.M.' was and she couldn't wait till the Yule Ball tonight.