Chapter Eight: Unusual Behaviour

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Many thanks to VIVAvivacious for all of her help with the beta of this chapter.

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Requirements were essential. Things had to be just so, or it just wasn't worth the effort people put into things. Some people were happy with average or as good as they could get, but not everyone would be satisfied with 'giving it a go.' Ginny was one of those people who had to have everything just so when it came to building friendships with people – which was one of the reasons why Draco Malfoy riled her up so much.

She couldn't understand the nature of their relationship. They had gone from being enemies and old school foes one moment to being two people on holiday who were on speaking terms the next. When he had taken her to that private corner on the first night, she had not expected to be spoken to almost politely. He had asked her to pretend she could tolerate him. Did that mean that he could actually tolerate her?

She had no idea what the answer to that was, but she was determined to find out just how much he could tolerate. It was only the third day of Christmas, and that morning she had been delighted to find a small porcelain figurine of a French hen sitting on her nightstand when she woke up. The morning before that she had received a turtledove, and on Christmas morning, a partridge with a small note saying 'Merry Christmas' sat there, surprising her.

She had thought it was Sarah at first, but when her roommate had looked at her in confusion when she asked, she tried to figure out who it was. She gave up in the end and just accepted the small gifts. It was very sweet, and she was starting to think that there would be a figurine for each day of the song, 'Twelve Days of Christmas'.

'Hi there, Ginny,' called a cheerful voice from outside on the open-air balcony. 'It's lovely out here, come see!'

Ginny smiled and went outside to Sarah and stood next to her. The witch had decided to turn her hair pink that faded into magenta and then blue at the ends for that day. 'Your hair looks very exciting today,' Ginny commented.

'Hmmm, I thought I'd do something exciting with it for our last day in Manhattan,' she answered with a lazy smile.

Ginny found herself grinning back. The longer she stayed with this vibrant witch who reminded her so much of Tonks, the more she appreciated and liked her; the added bonus was that Sarah was not nearly as clumsy or prone to disaster as Tonks always had been and still was. 'I will miss this city, I suppose,' she said quietly, contemplating how she would spend her day.

'Yes, but I am looking forward to the Niagara Falls a lot too, so it won't be a huge loss for me,' Sarah answered noncommittally.

'Yes, that will be nice,' Ginny replied.

They were scheduled to Apparate there the next morning and spend two days on the American side before spending two days on the Canadian side in Ontario. The lake would be a little frozen, but it was unlikely the largest falls in the world would ever freeze up, especially when there were Magical folk maintaining it. Ginny was actually more excited to be moving their trip there after being in the city for so many days.

There was a knock on their door, and Ginny immediately pushed off the balcony to go and answer the call while Sarah remained where she was, distracted by the early sunrise that morning. She straightened out a little before she opened the door to Draco Malfoy, who smirked at her surprised look and stepped inside when she moved to allow him entry.

'Good morning,' he said politely.

'Good morning to you, too,' Ginny managed, somewhat belatedly.

'I hope you don't mind, but Sarah invited me up to view the sunrise from your balcony this morning. I was told that the view from this window was quite incomparable,' he said with a smile.

'Yes, it is quite lovely from here,' Ginny answered, feeling a little suspicious of his intentions towards Sarah.

'May I go out?' he asked.

'By all means,' Ginny said, gesturing towards the open door to the balcony and following him out. He stood next to Sarah at a comfortable distance and tucked his hands into his pockets as he looked out at the horizon that shone all pink and yellow with orange and red tints. There would be clouds later in the day.

'Hi, Draco, I expected you a little earlier,' Sarah said, tucking her arm around his and smiling up at him.

Even though Ginny had discussed Draco with Sarah and knew the other woman had no romantic feelings for him, Ginny felt jealousy run through her for a moment. She didn't feel romantically for him either, but she was jealous for some inexplicable reason. It didn't make sense, but it was the way things were.

She stood back, leaning her back against the opposite side of the balcony, and watched as the two talked companionably with each other as they enjoyed the sunrise together. Ginny used to like doing that with Harry; she still liked the sunrise, but she missed being able to watch with him – even if she knew that he was watching it rise from somewhere.

'Ginny? Are you all right?' asked a female voice from beyond her thoughts.

Ginny looked up at both Sarah and Draco staring at her with worried looks on their faces and nodded. 'Why would you think otherwise?' she asked simply.

'Well, you're crying,' Sarah answered simply.

Gasping, she reached a hand to her face and felt the wetness on her cheeks. She blushed, as she had not even realized her sorrow was flowing down them. 'Oh gods, you're right, I didn't even realize,' she said hurriedly.

'So, you're not sad?'

'Well, not really enough to cry. I guess I did it subconsciously,' Ginny replied, brushing away the tears and shrugging.

She left the balcony, going into the bathroom to discover her cheeks had become quite pink and her eyes puffy from the amount she had cried. Has she sniffed loudly? Was she blubbering away like an idiot in front of these two people she hardly knew? Did they think she was crazy or depressed? Seriously considering the answer was probably all of the above, she washed her face, dried it with a towel, and blew her nose before she returned to the balcony, only looking half as bad as she had when she had left.

The both looked at her pointedly when she returned. 'Don't look at me like that; I feel like a crazy person,' she said with as much control as she could.

'All right, but you were the one who said it,' Draco said, turning away while Sarah shot her a curious look before letting go of his arm and returning to the bedroom to change; she was still wearing her pajamas.

Ginny felt awkward, being thrown into the deep end like that. She was treading a fine and very dangerous line here, standing alone on the balcony with Draco Malfoy. She knew he was staring at her by then and realized the look in his eye would only lead them to disaster. His eyes held understanding, acceptance, and something else that could have been longing or wistfulness.

His next words confirmed which of the two it was.

'Would you see a movie with me today?' he asked with a small smile.

'What kind of movie?' she found herself asking back curiously, despite her good sense protesting. Her romantic sensibilities always won out when it came to a battle between curiosity and her common sense.

'Any movie you would like, I 'spose. It would easily pass a few hours of today, and then we will be closer to being at the Falls,' he replied, grinning.

Ginny thought about it for a moment, wondering whether or not she should accept his suggestion to kill time. It sounded reasonable, not like an attempt to get into her pants for one night, just innocent and friendly. He appeared sincere, and in the past few days he had acted considerably nicer than he ever had and proved his sincerity in his actions and words. Failing to see any negatives in this, she looked at him and nodded.

'We should go see a movie, and then we could go to the Statue of Liberty,' Ginny answered, giving her own suggestion too.

'That sounds like a good plan,' Draco said, nodding in approval.

To her surprise, Ginny enjoyed the time she spent with Malfoy that day, just as Draco had found her company more than pleasant himself. He liked the fiery redhead, although she seemed very subdued for some reason he didn't understand. There was just something about her he found irresistible, not to mention she was quite attractive and had a lovely and natural glow to her skin.

He had never liked freckles on women all that much, but hers suited and complimented her very nicely. He intended to spend as much time as he could getting to know her like he should have years before. But he had let his arrogant childhood prejudices get in the mix, and it compensated his judgment quite unforgivably. It was no wonder she had trouble accepting and opening up to him like he so longed for her to.

However, he would simply remain content taking pleasure in her company and waiting for her to allow herself a chance to get to know the nicer side of him better. He knew he could show her the truth somehow.

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A/N – Another necessary break chapter from Hermione and Snape's tale. The next chapter will be along soon.