Harry looked uncomfortable. Ron looked somewhat contrite, while Draco looked... Ginny stared at him beadily. Draco looked bored. She wondered if that was what passed for angry when it came to him.
It had taken less time than she would have thought, for her to digest the stunning news. Oh, a part of her wanted to slap both hands over her mouth, run to find Hermione and demand details.
Harry hadn' t been big on details, which was just as well because he wasn' t very good at remembering any. He was more of a 'vague overview' sort of person.
Ginny knew full well what Malfoy was capable of - school gossip was very specific about his reputation - but it was something else to know that Hermione had a whole other risk-taking side to her.
"So why did you marry her?" It suddenly seemed odd that no one had asked this question before. It took a girl to ask it, Ginny supposed.
Draco gave her his trademark look of disdain. There was a liberal amount of threat in there as well. It was always a tiny bit unnerving when Malfoy looked a person straight in the eyes, which he was most definitely doing now. He had beautiful eyes, but they were armour plated. Ginny was too curious to feel uncomfortable though.
"Well?" she prodded.
"I think we've covered the part about it being a mistake."
"Sleeping with her could be labelled a mistake. Getting married and tattooed seems a bit excessive"
A muscle in his jaw twitched. "Did you miss the part about us being violently drunk?"
Ron snorted. "So what? From what I hear, you and your lot do that every other weekend. It's common knowledge Hermione can't hold her liquor at all. You had to have at least guessed that."
"Are you saying that what happened was completely my fault?" Draco asked, eyeballing Ron something fierce.
"It was your bloody fault," Harry pointed out. "You took advantage of her."
"I took-" Draco sputtered. He wished he still had the scratches on his back and the marks on his neck from their first night together, to show them. Her friends seemed determined to assign Granger the role of 'victim' in the whole sordid affair.
Ron suddenly looked like he wanted to finish the punch-up, after all. "She's obviously the innocent party in all of this. Didn't you say you had a pair of angel wings on your back? Angel wings, Malfoy."
Ginny brightened. "Oh, can I see it?"
"No," snapped Harry and Ron, at the same time.
"They don't have to be angel wings, per se. Lots of things havewings"
Draco knew he sounded like a moron, but he couldn't help it.
"And Hermione' s got a dragon in a rather sensitive area," Ginny surmised. "Bit telling isn't it?"
"What is? The dragon or where the dragon is located?" Draco couldn't resist asking her. Her brother was doing a splendid impersonation of a Muggle fire-hydrant.
"I'm not sure I approve of where this conversation is heading" Ron muttered.
Draco looked amused. "I don't think you'd approve of where the dragon is heading on Granger's thigh either,"
Ron sent Harry an imploring look. "Harry, can you please shut him up?"
"I'm not the one interrogating him about the damned tattoos!"
Ginny was happy to ignore Ron and Harry. "Did you know what Fida Mia was before you got tattooed?"
Draco was about to say yes, he did have a vague idea, but then he changed his mind. That would sound even more incriminating to them. He directed his next comment to Ron.
"I see that your sister suffers from the same affliction as Granger."
"And what affliction might that be?" Ron asked cautiously.
"Questions. Now, would you Weasleys mind pissing off while I speak to Potter?"
Ginny didn' t care for that suggestion. "Hermione is my friend too, "she sniffed. "I'm staying for this discussion."
"This might not be a conversation for persons with delicate sensibilities."
"I don't have delicate sensibilities," she argued.
Draco smiled humourlessly. "I was referring to your brother."
"Tosser," Ron spat.
"Weasley," Draco insulted back.
Ginny looked to Harry for help. "Can we just hurry up and do this before Hermione comes?"
Harry thought for a moment. After some time, he said, "I can' t make her spend the whole summer with me at Grimmauld Place. She'd want to see her parents."
"Grimmauld Place," Draco repeated the familiar-sounding name. "Where have I heard that?"
"It's the former Black residence, if that helps."
"Sirius Black's place you mean?"
Harry's eyes darkened a little. "Yeah. That's right." He wondered if Malfoy knew it had been his aunt who had killed Sirius.
"Damn it, Potter.