♥ "Two Battles and a Romance" for xalexandriam ♥
Title: Two Battles and a Romance
Author: Hannah
Rating: PG-13
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: None
Author's Notes: I give lots of thanks to the people who helped me! You guys know who you are! I would also like to say that this story does not reflect how I feel about any of the bands. I really do like Harry and the Potters! All of the bands used are real and you can find them in the Wrock section at Mugglenet.com. There is also a song title by Paramore that I stole for this story, and I don't own that either :D
Summary: Draco and Ginny are both important people at Wiz Ad. Inflation starts to give the company problems and the owner has the perfect solution to fix it. Draco and Ginny are in charge of running the Battle of the Bands, and whoever does the best job gets a promotion.
Two Battles and a Romance
Chapter 1 - The Job
After several years, it seemed that the company was going to have to eat all of its clients to stay alive. Prices soared soon after Kinsley Shacklebolt was voted Minister of Magic, and inflation killed everyone from the get go. If they were going to stay alive they would have to raise prices drastically or find a new way out. The change had hit his company the worst. Keith Jameson had started the revolution of Muggle products turned wizard.
His first product was the computer. It looked like a normal Muggle computer so they could blend in, but it was also connected to the WIN, or Wizarding Internet Network (each computer purchased from Wiz Ad also came with free access to Woogle, the magical version of Google). After that he came out with Wizarding Wireless or cell phones to the Muggles, and the Wizarding Music Player (WMP) which was like a Muggle object called an IPod. Lastly they invented a TV with a special set of channels only for the wizarding community. WWS (World Wizarding Station) was channel two and a half and WWS2 was channel nine and three quarters.
“So, because of rising prices, our company is losing money and fast. This is why we have decided to sponsor and promote the Battle of the Bands. We will advertise with TV commercials, emails, and text messages to owners of our products.” He paused. The room broke out into frantic whispers. This was a completely different approach to anything they had ever done before.
“I know this is different but we needed something fast. This was our only option to keep the prices down and not lose business. Only 20% of the income goes to the band, and the rest goes to the company. If we can keep our advertising cheap, then we will gain enough money to cover the extra costs. In addition, I am looking for a new executive leader for both of the WWS stations. The two people eligible for the job are Draco Malfoy, head of WWS2, and Ginny Weasley, head of WWS.”
Everyone gasped. Keith had to hold in a laugh. It was amusing that they found this so scandalous. He knew that Draco and Ginny did not really get along, but they were the only people right for the job and he thought he should at least see them work for it.
“Draco and Ginny, you will be in charge of the advertising, auditions, and final event for the Battle of the Bands. You will need to coordinate all of the meetings, and whoever does the best job will become the executive. I look forward to seeing your work. And guys don’t kill each other, okay?”
Without waiting for an answer he walked out. The angry chattering started before the door closed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Wow… I can’t believe you have to work with him!”
“Oh my Gosh, this is insanity.”
“He’s flipping crazy!”
“You’ll totally win Ginny.”
“This is never going to work.”
Ginny was surrounded by her co-workers. Her mind was still trying to process the latest information. She would be working, and competing, with Draco Malfoy. She was absolutely silent, still in a slightly shocked state when, ignoring all of the frantic people around her, she stood up and went over to an equally pissed Malfoy. She stuck out her hand. He ignored it.
“We’ll start tomorrow, my office. Be ready. See you then,” she said with a tight smile, and then walked out.
He sat there even more shocked and angry than before.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“So, first we need to figure out where to hold the auditions.”
“Why can’t we just do it at the concert hall?”
“Um…” Ginny shuffled through some papers. “Well I guess that would work. Do you want to call and find an open date?”
“The 19th is open. We have the building all day long.” He smirked. She wasn’t ready for him and hadn’t expected him to be so well prepared. “Who is the judge for the contest?” he asked.
“We are; it’s not in the budget to hire someone else to do it.”
He sighed. This would not be fun. They would have to spend an entire day with each other, auditioning bands. Draco and Ginny set times to meet and decided that each would come up with a commercial for their advertisements. They not only needed to get as many people as possible to audition and attend the final event, but they both wanted that executive job.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Where the hell is he?” Ginny fumed to herself. Draco was in charge of getting the keys to the concert hall and he was late. Ginny found herself standing outside in the heat while wearing very uncomfortable shoes.
His pop of Apparation startled her. “MALFOY! Where have you been?! We’re late now! I thought that at least you would be smart enough to get here on time, and now my feet hurt from standing! These shoes aren’t exactly made for standing up for very long periods of time!
He just rolled his eyes at her. Then, he admired her outfit deciding that she looked good, almost too good, especially with the very high heels that were strapped to her feet. Draco didn’t want to be caught staring so he grabbed the keys from his pocket and went up to the entrance. “Whatever Weasley. Let’s go in. It’s hot,” he said as he unlocked the door. Ginny felt the rush of the cold air from inside as he pulled the heavy door open. It only made her madder.
“Really? I didn’t know that. I’ve only been standing in the heat for fifteen minutes waiting for you!” she yelled at him.
“Okay, cut out the yelling. You’re hurting my ears, and you only had to wait seven minutes and forty-three seconds. That is, assuming you were actually here on time.” He stepped into the building with Ginny following him.
“I did get here on time thank you very much. Unlike someone I know.” She glared at him meaningfully.
He smirked angrily. “Well, that’s just great for you. I couldn’t exactly leave a business meeting early, so I apologize for my tardiness, although I probably shouldn’t because you screamed at me the minute I did show up.”
Ginny couldn’t think of a good reply so she continued to glare at him. They both took a moment to get their bearings in the huge building, and then moved to start setting up the stage and judges table.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sky was bright and cheery on the day of auditions - the atmosphere inside of the ministry concert hall wasn’t. The auditions hadn’t even started and both Draco and Ginny were not in good moods.
The crew running the stage was full of idiots who barely knew what they were doing and it took several tries between Draco and Ginny to get them to do things coorectly. This resulted in many technical errors and lots of wasted time. It had been chaos when the bands had started to arrive. There had only been seven bands sign up for auditions, a good number, but not when you’re competing for a job. Neither of them were happy with it.
The concert hall was not usually used for informal events, but every year they removed all of the chairs to make an open pit in front of the stage for the Battle of the Bands. The hall had huge ceilings and special walls to better the acoustics. This made every sound from the band revealing and raw. Each band had to work their hardest to sound good because every missed note could be heard, and every wrong chord was loudly proclaimed to the crowd. The hall was painted a dark burgundy and all of the lights were dimmed. It looked kind of creepy when there were no crowds to fill in the empty space.
Draco and Ginny grudgingly took their seats and prepared for a very long day of bad music and bad company.
Chapter 2 - The Auditions Part 1
The stage was set up to accommodate each band without too many set changes in between each one. The first band came on stage and set up quickly. This band was made up of three members- the drummer and two guitarist/singers.
“Hi,” said the main guitarist, a girl with red hair just slightly darker than Ginny’s, “We’re Expecto PrtrAWESOME. Our first song tonight is called ‘We are Broken.’ I hope you guys like it.”
She turned around to the rest of the band for just a moment and then they broke out into a soft rock ballad. Ginny was hooked after the first chorus, but Draco just kind of shrugged like he didn’t care and did not give any other information during the song. He didn’t want to admit he liked them just as much as she did. He was too manly and prideful and would never admit he liked this kind of music.
When they finished Ginny turned to Draco for conformation. She was going to let them in no matter what he did, but she had to look official and ask him anyway.
“Yes or no?” she asked quietly so they couldn’t hear her. He shrugged again, so she mentally decided it was as good as a “yes” and turned back to the band. “You’re in,” she said. “The show is on the thirty-first. It starts at seven here. You need to be here at least two hours early for sound checks and to go over the schedule. You get one song, so choose wisely. The grand prize is 1,000 Galleons. If you are late for the sound check you will not be included in the show. If you know you are going to be late or can not make it send an owl to me or Mr. Malfoy so we can plan for your absence, any questions?”
“Will you go out with me?” asked the drummer hopefully.
“Do you want to be disqualified for harassing the judges?” Ginny answered, eyebrows raised. The boy did not say anything more. The band hurried off stage, frightened of Ginny, and of losing their coveted spot in the Battle of the Bands.
Draco chuckled as soon as Expecto PatrAWESOME was past the curtain. “That kid was very straight forward, very Malfoy,” he said with a smirk.
“No, that kid was annoying and immature. So that’s what a Malfoy is.”
Now he glared at her. She was looking very smug and proud of her comment, but he would set her right. “Malfoys are dignified and mature, unlike Weasleys who are stupid oafs.”
“Oh, shut the bloody hell up you prat! You are such a bastard.”
“If I’m the bastard you must be the-”
A voice suddenly cut off their argument. “Excuse me, we ar-”
Both Draco and Ginny’s heads whipped toward the stage. “What?!” they yelled together, effectively startling the second band and cutting off his sentence.
“Um… sorry to interrupt,” he said, but he did not seem one bit sorry. “We are the Chasing Quaffles. I hope that explains our outfits…” He trailed off. The band was dressed in full, matching Quidditch gear.
“No shite, dumbass,” whispered Ginny to herself. She had no idea that Draco could hear her. He smirked at the comment but didn’t say anything back.
The boy from the band continued, “We would like to give a little history of the band before we start playing. I’m Jeff the lead singer, that is David the lead guitarist, and Patrick is back there on the drums. Unfortunately, we lost our bass player about a month ago in a, weird as it sounds, Quidditch incident. But, they always turn up eventually right? Yup, were just hoping he shows up soon. It really screws up our sound with out him…but I don’t know how long it will take for him to show up in the desert. We sound horrible without him. I mean, not horrible, just different. It’s like were missing a puzzle piece and…”
Draco stopped listening after that. He glanced at Ginny, and after a moment she glanced back at him almost as if she knew he was looking. She made a face at him. Not sure if the face was directed at him or at the band, and because it looked ridiculous, he leaned closer so she could hear and whispered, “What was that?” The Chasing Quaffles’ kid was still talking, oblivious that they were totally ignoring him.
Ginny sighed softly. Then she regretted it because she breathed in the sent of him and it was absolutely amazing. Remembering that he was still staring at her for an answer she quickly said, “My face was melting out of boredom.”
He looked at her like she was crazy. “It didn’t look like that. It looked somewhere between a dying animal and a person with multiple nerve injuries.” She threw her pen at his head.
The kid finally focused on them and took a break from his ramble. He still thought they knew what he was talking about, and after a slight pause kept going. “So, do you guys think that we should all wear different colour uniforms or that we should stick to matching ones? I mean we would totally love you opinion. It might help us get a good record deal and all.” He looked at them hopefully.
Draco gave him an I-don’t-give-a-fuck look and said curtly, “You may exit the stage on the left.” Then he picked up his pen and started to write on his scoring paper.
“But we didn’t even-”
“Goodbye,” said Draco without even glancing at them. He was actually only pretending to write his comments about their performance on the paper in front of him. He was really just doodling, but they would never know that. A quick glace at Ginny let him know that she was doing the same.
The band finally walked off stage grumbling. Just before they went behind the curtains, the other band members were yelling at the lead singer. “JEFF! You did it AGAIN! This is the millionth time!”
Ginny laughed out loud. The look on that guy’s face when Draco just kicked him off stage was priceless. She mentally predicted that the band would break up very soon. Or, maybe they would just fire Jeff. The yelling continued offstage, probably because the stage crew didn’t know what to do about it.
Draco lost it as soon as she started laughing. It was like doing a comedy act; you can only not laugh if the other person can. Soon they were both laughing hysterically, and neither noticed that another band had made its way onto the stage.
Draco looked up first. He stopped abruptly, ending the chorus of their combined laughter and leaving hers the only thing filling the awkward silence for the few seconds it took her to realize why he had stopped laughing. The band on stage was from the Ministry. Awkwardly enough their boss, Keith, was the lead singer and guitarist.
Both Draco and Ginny sat up straighter, and tried to act professional. Unfortunately that was pretty much useless after their laughing fit.
“We are the Department of Rock,” said Keith quickly filling in the silence. “This song is called ‘Wishing on Forever’. I hope you enjoy it.” They started the song.
Of course both Draco and Ginny would “enjoy it” whether it was good or not because neither of them wanted to tell their boss that he sucked. Luckily for them the band was pretty good. Although Keith did not have the greatest singing voice it was the lyrics that had them hooked.
The moment he finished they both said, “You’re in.” Then they looked at each other, surprised that they had both done the some exact thing. Ginny smiled, barely holding in another fit of giggles. Draco smiled quickly at her before turning back to the band and giving them the information they would need about the actual battle.
Ginny was stunned. She had never seen him smile before. She just stared at him thoughtfully as he talked to the band, and then looked away quickly before he noticed. His smile sent shivers up her spine. It made his entire face look softer and more handsome than before. He really was attractive normally, but his smile just made her melt.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Keith’s voice boomed at them from the stage microphone. “You’re not just letting us in because I’m your boss right?”
Ginny answered him first. “We would never do that Mr. Jacobson. You guys were great.”
Keith looked at her for a moment as if he knew she was lying about letting him in even if he was terrible, but then he smiled and left the stage leaving Draco and Ginny to deal with the shock of judging their boss.
Chapter 3 - The Auditions Part 2
Rio and the Kneazels took the stage. Unfortunately, neither Draco nor Ginny really heard any of their performance. Both were still in a state of shock after the Department or Rock. They were both in their own little worlds while the band performed. When they finished, Ginny was jolted back into reality. She quickly reached over to tap Draco’s shoulder so he didn’t miss any more than she did.
She was only half paying attention as she told the band the information about the performance day, because she could still feel where she touched him. Her hand was still slightly warm from the contact.
When the band had finally left the stage, Ginny turned to Draco and asked in a whisper, “Did you hear anything they played?”
“No, did you?” he whispered back. He looked a little guilty… well as much as possible for a Malfoy, which unsurprisingly was not a lot.
“No… I hope they were good ‘cause I let them in, and if they’re not it’s our fault. Neither one of us needs the blame right now.” Ginny was worried. She was dying to become the executive, and if this cost her that job… well, she would not be happy.
“Actually I would be fine if you got blamed for it… as long as I’m not in it,” he said smiling cheekily at her.
“Hey!” She smacked him. He glared at her. Ginny lazily tapped her chin with her index finger, trying to look thoughtful as she said, “Well, I guess I could live with it if you got blamed. Then I would become your boss and you would never live that down. Years from now I’ll hear the story of how the great, sexy Draco Malfoy screwed up and lost a job to a Weasley.”
“You think I’m sexy.” he said, making her blush.
“No, I think your mean and stuck up,” she replied too quickly. She knew it sounded like she was lying and that her face was bright red and giving her away. So what? She thought he was sexy, just like a million other girls out there.
“Liar.”
“No! I’m not ly-” She stopped talking when she realized how close they were. They were still whispering even though there was no band on stage to hear them. With each sentence they had slowly inched their heads closer together. Now just inches apart, she lost her train of thought when she accidentally glanced at his lips. She really was trying to ignore them.
He smiled slyly. “I knew it.” He saw her eyes move to his lips. He moved an inch closer. It would be so easy to kiss her right now. He watched her eyes close as he got just a tiny bit closer.
They both sprang back to their original positions when they heard the crash back stage. Ginny blushed even harder. Draco focused on the stage. The next band entered the stage, but he wasn’t sure it really was a band. Ginny’s blushed faded almost instantly when she saw the next band. She couldn’t believe it.
“Hi Miss Wheezy!” he said grinning like a madman. Then he sobered a little. “Hello Mr. Malfoy.”
Ginny mumbled some reply to the house elves that was too quiet and jumbled for any of them to hear.
Dobby, now smiling again, continued saying, “We is Dobby and the House Elves. We is happy to play our songs for you. Nobody give us a chance because we are not human, but I know Miss Wheezy would.” He was still smiling from ear to ear. Ginny smiled weakly back at him. Draco scowled.
Each elf was wearing random clothing items. Dobby was covered from head to toe in socks. A large tube sock with a hole in the top was used a type of shirt. He also had socks on his hands, feet, and head. A baby sock rested on his nose. The other members were dressed relatively normal. One was wearing an old beat up jumper and another was in a child’s dress. The last one was wearing a muggle pirate costume. All of the clothes were old and looked like they were taken from a dumpster.
Dobby looked at them hopefully, waiting for an answer.
“Yes, of course we will give you a chance, right Draco?”
He glared at her in a your-really-going-to-make-me-answer-that way. She nodded back at him, a plastic smile on her face. Sure she didn’t mind Dobby but house elves in general were way to damn annoying.
“Yes, of course,” he said, teeth clenched.
“You may start anytime Dobby,” Ginny said to the band, satisfied with Draco’s answer.
They started playing this indie style melody with the guitars. Then the drums joined in and Dobby started singing. She cringed. It wasn’t bad per say, but it gave her a headache. She decided they sounded like the chipmunks from this weird movie she watched while babysitting her nieces and nephews. It was very high pitch and squeaky.
Draco could care less what they sounded like. There was no way he would ever let in House Elves. He kept him face impassive as they finished the song. Ginny was talking to them before he had the chance to just kick them off stage.
“Um… sorry Dobby I just don’t think you guys are good enough to put in the show. Keep working on it though. Maybe you can perform next year,” She said smiling nicely to them as you would a three year old.
“Oh, thank you Miss Wheezy, thank you! We come again next year!” Dobby replied, smiling before he and the other House Elves ran off the stage in excitement.
To Draco and Ginny’s surprise they did not have to wait for the next band to arrive. The Bertie Botts Every Flavor Band was out on stage as soon as the House Elves were gone. They introduced themselves and began playing a soft country song.
Ginny turned to Draco and whispered, “Country? Who plays country at Battle of the Bands?”
He was about to reply when all of the sudden the band started playing a hard core metal song. They both realized at the same time that it was still the same song just with a different twist. The change reminded Ginny of listening to her WMP on shuffle where it just played a soft song then switched to a rock one. The change was startling, but sounded cool.
Draco thought it was amazing that they could do that. He was putting them in even if Ginny didn’t want to. He would probably have to do it without her agreement because he saw her jump when they switched.
They finally hit the last chord after a nice drum solo. Draco spoke to them first.
“What do you guys call that style?”
“Well,” said the lead singer, “we call it every flavor music. That’s how we got our name too.”
Draco smiled slightly, “Well it is good.” He then proceeded to give them the rest of the information. Ginny was staring at him again. She saw his face when they were playing. It looked like he hated it. She was still thinking and staring when he addressed her.
“Ginny? Giiiiny?” he said, waving his hand in front of her face quickly.
“What?” she asked, snapping out of her reverie.
“Am I that good looking that you couldn’t keep your eyes off of me?”
“No! I spaced out. You’re not that good looking.” She ginned at him playfully.
He smirked again. “I know you’re lying,” he said moving his face closer to hers once more. He liked being close to her.
“Am,” she swallowed heavily, “not.” She wanted him to kiss her. It wouldn’t take much. Oh, her family and friends would kill her, but she still wanted to do it. Today turned out much better than she had expected. Malfoy hadn’t been too much of a git, and she was actually enjoying his company.
He wanted to kiss her, he really did, but he wasn’t sure he should. His parents would flip out at him and his friends would send him to St. Mungos for a head exam. He was so close now, only a little bit more. He could feel her breath on his face. Once again her eyes fluttered shut. She was waiting for him.
Ginny was ready for it this time. She wanted it, she was sure of it this time. She would let him kiss her. If only he would.
He leaned toward her just barely grazing her lips with his own. She felt his lips finally touch hers. Her mouth erupted in fire at the simple touch. She moved her hand to his cheek pulling him a little closer.
“Oi! Can we play now?”
They jumped apart again. Harry and his band were up on stage. Ginny blushed from being caught, then her jaw dropped because Harry fucking Potter had just caught her kissing Draco Malfoy.
“Why were you kissing him? Did he Imperus you or something? I’m going to call the Aurors over here. Malfoy you are going to pay for this,” said Harry, fuming.
“Harry Potter you will do no such thing!” she yelled. “He is not the problem, you are. Now introduce yourselves and start playing or you can just leave now.”
Draco was ginning stupidly to himself as Ginny told off Potter. Well that and he had just made out with her. That had something to do with it too.
Harry opened and closed his mouth two or three times like a fish before saying,
“We are Harry and the Potters. This is our song called ‘I Saved the World’.” Then they began.
Draco leaned over to Ginny. “Is he more full of it than me?”
Ginny stifled a laugh. “Hell yea, without a doubt.”
“Good, that’s what I was hoping you would say. Can we just tell him he didn’t make it? I don’t want to deal with him again.”
This time she could not stop all of her laughter and she laughed out loud for a few seconds in the middle of their song. Harry glared at her from on stage. “That’s exactly what I was going to do,” she replied.
“Good,” he said, already thinking of how he wanted to tell him he didn’t make it. He was going to have fun with this.
The song ended and Draco started in on them. “Well you had way too many missed notes. It sounded horrible. You were way out of tune for the entire thing. It was a disaster. Unfortunately for you, we can’t let a disaster into our show. You may leave now.”
Harry did the fish thing with his mouth a few more times. “But, but… Ginny you can’t let him do this.” He pouted. Well he tried to pout. It didn’t work at all.
“I’m sorry Harry, Draco is right. We can’t have a disaster in our show.” She fake smiled at him.
“Draco? You’re calling him by his first name and you’re siding with him? Come on, it’s not fair,” Harry whined.
Both of them ignored him. Eventually he finally gave up and called his band off stage. Draco and Ginny burst out laughing the moment he was gone. And with that the auditions were over.
Chapter 4 - Battle of the Bands
“Hey, Ginny how did the auditions go yesterday? I heard not a lot of people signed up.”
Ginny looked up from her desk and saw her best friend at the office Elaine standing there. Elaine was a good enough friend, but she was next in line for Ginny’s job if she was promoted. She was a little too enthusiastic about helping Ginny beat Draco for the job.
Ginny replied, “Oh, it was fine. He was a prat as usual and the stick is still up his ass.” Ginny smiled at Elaine. She wasn’t telling anyone about the kiss. She wasn’t sure it actually meant anything. He had acted completely normal afterwards and they hadn’t talked about it. She wasn’t going to see him until the day of the actual event because they worked on different floors and had other work to do.
Harry had tried to tell her family what had happened between her and Draco, but they didn’t listen. As soon as she denied it herself, Harry gave up. Her family would never believe him over her. She didn’t want to make a big deal of it if nothing ever happened.
She liked him of course, but she had no idea what he thought of her. She desperately hoped he liked her romantically too. She would have to wait for him to tell, or show her. Ginny wasn’t a shy person, she just hated it when she was wrong about a guy liking her. He always had to make the first move. The kiss from the auditions didn’t count as a move…yet.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Draco had nothing to do but think for the moment. He wanted to tell Ginny how he was feeling. He could only think about her. It was different for him. He had never been tied down to one person before. He could have any girl he wanted.
Ginny was different. She made him laugh. He hadn’t laughed like that ever since way before Blaise was killed in the War. Blaise had been the only one who could make him laugh like that…until now.
He was going to make sure she knew that he really meant that kiss. He liked kissing her. It gave him this high that he craved constantly. He could be happy around her. She wouldn’t judge him by his name, or by his looks. He was going to tell her how he really felt about her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The sky was anything but clear on the day the Battle of the Bands was set to take place. The line to get in had been formed for hours now. Tickets were sold out. You could feel the excitement in the air.
Draco and Ginny had to go through the back doors to get into the Concert Hall for fear of getting mauled by the crowd. All of the Bands had arrived on time. Draco and Ginny had given them the order of their performances and had sent them off to the sound and lighting people.
They were going to be hosting the show together. They would introduce all of the bands, and announce the winner. They were also in charge of handing over the prize money. The entire night would be spent behind stage gauging the audience’s reaction. The crowd started filing into the hall about a half hour before the show was supposed to start.
Many had drinks from the bar in the back, and the noise was hard to hear over. “Five minutes to go!” Ginny yelled to the crew and performers back stage. She had a clipboard of the list of things she had to do before they started, and she was almost done with her list.
She turned in a circle looking for Draco. She had to make sure he knew what he was going to have to do once on stage. She finally found him behind all of the people leaning by the wall.
“Draco, are you ready to go?”
“Ready?”
“To go out on stage. We have to announce all of the bands.”
He looked at her like he was horrified. He glanced to where the entrance to the stage was and then turned his gaze on Ginny once more. He shook his head.
Ginny was confused. “Draco, we have to go. It’s about to start. Come on!” She grabbed his hand, but he didn’t budge.
“No, Ginny I can’t,” he said, sounding panicked.
“Why not? We don’t have much time for you to get it together.”
“I- I’m afraid of crowds. I always have been. Did you ever see any of the pictures of my family at press conferences after the War?”
“A few, I think. Come on, we don’t have time for this!”
“I’m naturally pale, but I always look sick in those pictures because I hate being in front of crowds. I did it just those few times so we could clear the family name. That’s all. I’m not going out there.”
Ginny just gaped at him. “Draco! You have to! There is not time to find anyone else! Let’s go!”
“Ginny, I can’t!” He was silently begging her.
“No, you are coming. All you have to do is act normal and read whatever they put on the script.” She grabbed his arm and forced him as best she could to the stage. He was protesting the entire time.
He was silent as soon as he was pushed through the curtain. Ginny watched whatever colour he had had, drain from his face.
She could feel the energy in the crowd. Most of them hadn’t even realized that anyone was on stage yet. She could feel the hum of excitement in the air. They knew the concert would begin any minute. The venue was large and completely filled with people all packed together. The smell of Firewhiskey faintly drifted over the crowd from the bar. The smell of mixed perfumes and colognes was getting stronger by the minute.
She grabbed the microphone and called their attention. The silence was so quick to come that it gave her the chills. All of those people were looking at her and Draco waiting for them to speak.
“Welcome to the Battle of the Bands! Are you guys ready to rock?!” Ginny exclaimed enthusiastically. The crowd roared. Draco’s line appeared on the scrip they were reading off of, but he didn’t say anything. Ginny elbowed him. Out of the corner of her mouth she whispered, “Say it. Just push it out. Now!”
He glanced over at her quickly panic clearly written on his face. Then he took a deep breathe and said, “Well…” He paused, and gulped. “I’m ready,” he said as loud as he could. It was lacking any energy though and the crowd booed. He glared at Ginny. She sighed. She would just have to do it herself.
“Well I’m ready! Here is how it’s going to work. We are going to rate your reactions as a crowd to discover our winner. So, if you like them you better yell it out! If you love them you better scream it!” The crowd erupted into cheers once more.
“First up we have The Department of Rock!” She pointed to the side of the stage where the band was entering, then dragged Draco off the other side.
“I’m not going out there again,” he said to her. He still looked a bit sick.
“Fine, just watch the crowd.”
The band played the same song they had auditioned with. The crowd was ready to become rowdy and crazy, but The Department or Rock didn’t get them there. They cheered at the end, but it was relatively boring.
Ginny went back on stage as soon as they were off of it.
“How did you like them?!” The crowd cheered again, but still not to their potential. “Now we have Rio and the Kneazles!”
Back stage once again, both Draco and Ginny were waiting to see what the band sounded like. The lights dimmed and a single spotlight came down upon the lead singer. The drums started playing a very low rhythmic tune. Then the guitar joined in with him.
Ginny was very aware that their boss was standing next to them listening too. The lead singer started chanting. She couldn’t understand them very well but she caught the word “feelings” a few times.
Keith turned to them looking confused. “Why did they get in? That lead guy isn’t your other secret boss is he?”
Ginny gave him a wan smile. “No.” Thinking fast she replied, “We thought there should be some diversity in the acts tonight.”
He nodded, before turning back to the band and smiling to himself. Ginny was up on stage the moment they finished.
“How did you like them?” she said sounding a little shaken. The crowd hardly cheered at all. She was scared that they had let in the wrong band and that she wasn’t going to get her promotion. Draco hadn’t said anything about them.
“Yes, well now we have Expecto PatrAWESOME!” Ginny went back stage again and stood next to Draco. Keith was no where to be seen.
He turned to her. “I’m sorry you have to do the announcing by yourself.”
“Well, it gives me even more of advantage of winning that executive position.” She smiled innocently at him.
HE just shook his head before turning back to the band. They were playing a completely different song. It was better than the one they had auditions with and the crowd was loving it. She could see them moving to the music. The entire mosh pit was moving. All, of their heads were like ripples of waves in the ocean. She saw a person trying to crowd surf.
They ended the song to a deafening amount of cheers from the crowd. Ginny had to wait a few moments on stage be fore she could be heard.
“Did you like them?!” She covered her ears at the screams. She laughed at their reaction. “Okay! Well there is only one band left. Up next we have the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Band!”
They took the stage with the crowd already pumped up. Ginny could smell sweat mixing with the alcohol. The band played the same song they had auditioned with too and got good reactions, but it was nothing compared to Expecto PatrAWESOME.
Ginny went back on stage again. “How was that?!” They cheered loudly. “Good, good. It is now time to announce the winner!” She paused as the crowd erupted in shouts.
“The prize is 1,000 Galleons and fourth place goes to…Rio and the Kneazles!” The crowd reluctantly cheered.
“The third runner up is…The Department of Rock!” The crowd cheered a little bit more, but still not too loudly.
“Second place goes to…Bertie Botts every Flavor Band!” The crowd gained a little more sound.
“That leaves your winner, Expecto PatrAWESOME!” The crowd roared its approval. Ginny handed over the prize check and then left the stage.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Keith called another meeting to discuss the Battle of the Bands and to officially promote either Draco or Ginny to be the executive. He was the last to arrive and everyone was chatting with each other a he walked in. He noticed that Draco and Ginny were sitting a little too close together. He had suspected that something had happened between the two of them during the auditions. Their closeness almost confirmed it.
He could hear only snippets of the conversations going on all around him.
“…they’re together?”
“...them having dinner last night. It was…”
“…they hated each other, but I…”
“…making out in the hall this morning…”
He smiled to himself. He had no idea that he would be hearing all about the date from his girlfriend later. He would get the details of how they were actually being nice to each other, and how they made a “cute” couple.
“Let’s get started guys,” he said, just loud enough so they could all hear him. “Today we are all here to discuss two things. First, we have the inflation problems. The Battle of the Bands was successful! We have made up the lost money, and are now out of the danger zone of having to raise our prices.
“Thanks to the work of both Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley, we sold out the venue. The entire thing was a gigantic success. I give my thanks to them for taking on such a project and making it amazing. Also, thank you to those of you who bought tickets to the event.”
Everyone applauded each other and congratulated Draco and Ginny. Both of them were happy but tense. They each wanted this job, and were anxious to find out who had got it.
“Now, let’s get onto the second order of business. Last meeting I mentioned that I was looking for a new executive to be in charge of both of the WWS stations. I have been keeping an eye on Draco and Ginny as they have organized the Battle of the Bands. I am pleased to have come up with a winner.
“I know both of you tried your hardest. You are both very deserving of this job, but I can only choose one of you. I have chosen Ginny Weasley as the new executive of the WWS companies.”
He waved her up to shake his hand. Everyone started clapping for her, even Draco. That would have never happened a few months ago. She smiled at everyone and thanked them generously.
Keith decided to cut in after a few moments. “Ginny has shown exceptional organizational skills and has showed me she is the perfect fit for this position. I am proud to have her in charge.”
Elaine was so excited that she was almost literally jumping up and down in her chair. She was taking over Ginny’s job which paid about twice what she had been getting.
“That’s it guys. I’ll talk to you when I see you,” he said, before walking out of the room and leaving everyone to celebrate together.
~fin~
ORIGINAL REQUEST:
Briefly describe what you'd like to receive in your fic (art)
Keeping the theme of competition in mind, Draco and Ginny both work for the same advertising firm. In order to receive a promotion (you can choose the new job title and their original job title), they must create an ad campaign for a wizarding Battle of the Bands. For the bands, you can include actual "wizard rock" bands like Harry and Potters, etc.
The tone/mood of the fic: It can be fluffy. Mostly humorous, sarcastic/snarky. If fluff is included, no super-fluff.
An element/line of dialogue/object you would like in your fic: One of the bands within must be named Rio and the Kneazels.
Preferred rating of the the fic you want: R and below to allow for potty mouth, should the author choose to use it, :D
Canon or AU? I'm not a canon-stickler, so AU's cool me.
Deal Breakers (anything you don't want?): PWP and pretty much anything that does not make sense with the prompt. Oh, and no heart-wrenching angst,
Author: Hannah
Rating: PG-13
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: None
Author's Notes: I give lots of thanks to the people who helped me! You guys know who you are! I would also like to say that this story does not reflect how I feel about any of the bands. I really do like Harry and the Potters! All of the bands used are real and you can find them in the Wrock section at Mugglenet.com. There is also a song title by Paramore that I stole for this story, and I don't own that either :D
Summary: Draco and Ginny are both important people at Wiz Ad. Inflation starts to give the company problems and the owner has the perfect solution to fix it. Draco and Ginny are in charge of running the Battle of the Bands, and whoever does the best job gets a promotion.
Two Battles and a Romance
Chapter 1 - The Job
After several years, it seemed that the company was going to have to eat all of its clients to stay alive. Prices soared soon after Kinsley Shacklebolt was voted Minister of Magic, and inflation killed everyone from the get go. If they were going to stay alive they would have to raise prices drastically or find a new way out. The change had hit his company the worst. Keith Jameson had started the revolution of Muggle products turned wizard.
His first product was the computer. It looked like a normal Muggle computer so they could blend in, but it was also connected to the WIN, or Wizarding Internet Network (each computer purchased from Wiz Ad also came with free access to Woogle, the magical version of Google). After that he came out with Wizarding Wireless or cell phones to the Muggles, and the Wizarding Music Player (WMP) which was like a Muggle object called an IPod. Lastly they invented a TV with a special set of channels only for the wizarding community. WWS (World Wizarding Station) was channel two and a half and WWS2 was channel nine and three quarters.
“So, because of rising prices, our company is losing money and fast. This is why we have decided to sponsor and promote the Battle of the Bands. We will advertise with TV commercials, emails, and text messages to owners of our products.” He paused. The room broke out into frantic whispers. This was a completely different approach to anything they had ever done before.
“I know this is different but we needed something fast. This was our only option to keep the prices down and not lose business. Only 20% of the income goes to the band, and the rest goes to the company. If we can keep our advertising cheap, then we will gain enough money to cover the extra costs. In addition, I am looking for a new executive leader for both of the WWS stations. The two people eligible for the job are Draco Malfoy, head of WWS2, and Ginny Weasley, head of WWS.”
Everyone gasped. Keith had to hold in a laugh. It was amusing that they found this so scandalous. He knew that Draco and Ginny did not really get along, but they were the only people right for the job and he thought he should at least see them work for it.
“Draco and Ginny, you will be in charge of the advertising, auditions, and final event for the Battle of the Bands. You will need to coordinate all of the meetings, and whoever does the best job will become the executive. I look forward to seeing your work. And guys don’t kill each other, okay?”
Without waiting for an answer he walked out. The angry chattering started before the door closed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Wow… I can’t believe you have to work with him!”
“Oh my Gosh, this is insanity.”
“He’s flipping crazy!”
“You’ll totally win Ginny.”
“This is never going to work.”
Ginny was surrounded by her co-workers. Her mind was still trying to process the latest information. She would be working, and competing, with Draco Malfoy. She was absolutely silent, still in a slightly shocked state when, ignoring all of the frantic people around her, she stood up and went over to an equally pissed Malfoy. She stuck out her hand. He ignored it.
“We’ll start tomorrow, my office. Be ready. See you then,” she said with a tight smile, and then walked out.
He sat there even more shocked and angry than before.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“So, first we need to figure out where to hold the auditions.”
“Why can’t we just do it at the concert hall?”
“Um…” Ginny shuffled through some papers. “Well I guess that would work. Do you want to call and find an open date?”
“The 19th is open. We have the building all day long.” He smirked. She wasn’t ready for him and hadn’t expected him to be so well prepared. “Who is the judge for the contest?” he asked.
“We are; it’s not in the budget to hire someone else to do it.”
He sighed. This would not be fun. They would have to spend an entire day with each other, auditioning bands. Draco and Ginny set times to meet and decided that each would come up with a commercial for their advertisements. They not only needed to get as many people as possible to audition and attend the final event, but they both wanted that executive job.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Where the hell is he?” Ginny fumed to herself. Draco was in charge of getting the keys to the concert hall and he was late. Ginny found herself standing outside in the heat while wearing very uncomfortable shoes.
His pop of Apparation startled her. “MALFOY! Where have you been?! We’re late now! I thought that at least you would be smart enough to get here on time, and now my feet hurt from standing! These shoes aren’t exactly made for standing up for very long periods of time!
He just rolled his eyes at her. Then, he admired her outfit deciding that she looked good, almost too good, especially with the very high heels that were strapped to her feet. Draco didn’t want to be caught staring so he grabbed the keys from his pocket and went up to the entrance. “Whatever Weasley. Let’s go in. It’s hot,” he said as he unlocked the door. Ginny felt the rush of the cold air from inside as he pulled the heavy door open. It only made her madder.
“Really? I didn’t know that. I’ve only been standing in the heat for fifteen minutes waiting for you!” she yelled at him.
“Okay, cut out the yelling. You’re hurting my ears, and you only had to wait seven minutes and forty-three seconds. That is, assuming you were actually here on time.” He stepped into the building with Ginny following him.
“I did get here on time thank you very much. Unlike someone I know.” She glared at him meaningfully.
He smirked angrily. “Well, that’s just great for you. I couldn’t exactly leave a business meeting early, so I apologize for my tardiness, although I probably shouldn’t because you screamed at me the minute I did show up.”
Ginny couldn’t think of a good reply so she continued to glare at him. They both took a moment to get their bearings in the huge building, and then moved to start setting up the stage and judges table.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sky was bright and cheery on the day of auditions - the atmosphere inside of the ministry concert hall wasn’t. The auditions hadn’t even started and both Draco and Ginny were not in good moods.
The crew running the stage was full of idiots who barely knew what they were doing and it took several tries between Draco and Ginny to get them to do things coorectly. This resulted in many technical errors and lots of wasted time. It had been chaos when the bands had started to arrive. There had only been seven bands sign up for auditions, a good number, but not when you’re competing for a job. Neither of them were happy with it.
The concert hall was not usually used for informal events, but every year they removed all of the chairs to make an open pit in front of the stage for the Battle of the Bands. The hall had huge ceilings and special walls to better the acoustics. This made every sound from the band revealing and raw. Each band had to work their hardest to sound good because every missed note could be heard, and every wrong chord was loudly proclaimed to the crowd. The hall was painted a dark burgundy and all of the lights were dimmed. It looked kind of creepy when there were no crowds to fill in the empty space.
Draco and Ginny grudgingly took their seats and prepared for a very long day of bad music and bad company.
Chapter 2 - The Auditions Part 1
The stage was set up to accommodate each band without too many set changes in between each one. The first band came on stage and set up quickly. This band was made up of three members- the drummer and two guitarist/singers.
“Hi,” said the main guitarist, a girl with red hair just slightly darker than Ginny’s, “We’re Expecto PrtrAWESOME. Our first song tonight is called ‘We are Broken.’ I hope you guys like it.”
She turned around to the rest of the band for just a moment and then they broke out into a soft rock ballad. Ginny was hooked after the first chorus, but Draco just kind of shrugged like he didn’t care and did not give any other information during the song. He didn’t want to admit he liked them just as much as she did. He was too manly and prideful and would never admit he liked this kind of music.
When they finished Ginny turned to Draco for conformation. She was going to let them in no matter what he did, but she had to look official and ask him anyway.
“Yes or no?” she asked quietly so they couldn’t hear her. He shrugged again, so she mentally decided it was as good as a “yes” and turned back to the band. “You’re in,” she said. “The show is on the thirty-first. It starts at seven here. You need to be here at least two hours early for sound checks and to go over the schedule. You get one song, so choose wisely. The grand prize is 1,000 Galleons. If you are late for the sound check you will not be included in the show. If you know you are going to be late or can not make it send an owl to me or Mr. Malfoy so we can plan for your absence, any questions?”
“Will you go out with me?” asked the drummer hopefully.
“Do you want to be disqualified for harassing the judges?” Ginny answered, eyebrows raised. The boy did not say anything more. The band hurried off stage, frightened of Ginny, and of losing their coveted spot in the Battle of the Bands.
Draco chuckled as soon as Expecto PatrAWESOME was past the curtain. “That kid was very straight forward, very Malfoy,” he said with a smirk.
“No, that kid was annoying and immature. So that’s what a Malfoy is.”
Now he glared at her. She was looking very smug and proud of her comment, but he would set her right. “Malfoys are dignified and mature, unlike Weasleys who are stupid oafs.”
“Oh, shut the bloody hell up you prat! You are such a bastard.”
“If I’m the bastard you must be the-”
A voice suddenly cut off their argument. “Excuse me, we ar-”
Both Draco and Ginny’s heads whipped toward the stage. “What?!” they yelled together, effectively startling the second band and cutting off his sentence.
“Um… sorry to interrupt,” he said, but he did not seem one bit sorry. “We are the Chasing Quaffles. I hope that explains our outfits…” He trailed off. The band was dressed in full, matching Quidditch gear.
“No shite, dumbass,” whispered Ginny to herself. She had no idea that Draco could hear her. He smirked at the comment but didn’t say anything back.
The boy from the band continued, “We would like to give a little history of the band before we start playing. I’m Jeff the lead singer, that is David the lead guitarist, and Patrick is back there on the drums. Unfortunately, we lost our bass player about a month ago in a, weird as it sounds, Quidditch incident. But, they always turn up eventually right? Yup, were just hoping he shows up soon. It really screws up our sound with out him…but I don’t know how long it will take for him to show up in the desert. We sound horrible without him. I mean, not horrible, just different. It’s like were missing a puzzle piece and…”
Draco stopped listening after that. He glanced at Ginny, and after a moment she glanced back at him almost as if she knew he was looking. She made a face at him. Not sure if the face was directed at him or at the band, and because it looked ridiculous, he leaned closer so she could hear and whispered, “What was that?” The Chasing Quaffles’ kid was still talking, oblivious that they were totally ignoring him.
Ginny sighed softly. Then she regretted it because she breathed in the sent of him and it was absolutely amazing. Remembering that he was still staring at her for an answer she quickly said, “My face was melting out of boredom.”
He looked at her like she was crazy. “It didn’t look like that. It looked somewhere between a dying animal and a person with multiple nerve injuries.” She threw her pen at his head.
The kid finally focused on them and took a break from his ramble. He still thought they knew what he was talking about, and after a slight pause kept going. “So, do you guys think that we should all wear different colour uniforms or that we should stick to matching ones? I mean we would totally love you opinion. It might help us get a good record deal and all.” He looked at them hopefully.
Draco gave him an I-don’t-give-a-fuck look and said curtly, “You may exit the stage on the left.” Then he picked up his pen and started to write on his scoring paper.
“But we didn’t even-”
“Goodbye,” said Draco without even glancing at them. He was actually only pretending to write his comments about their performance on the paper in front of him. He was really just doodling, but they would never know that. A quick glace at Ginny let him know that she was doing the same.
The band finally walked off stage grumbling. Just before they went behind the curtains, the other band members were yelling at the lead singer. “JEFF! You did it AGAIN! This is the millionth time!”
Ginny laughed out loud. The look on that guy’s face when Draco just kicked him off stage was priceless. She mentally predicted that the band would break up very soon. Or, maybe they would just fire Jeff. The yelling continued offstage, probably because the stage crew didn’t know what to do about it.
Draco lost it as soon as she started laughing. It was like doing a comedy act; you can only not laugh if the other person can. Soon they were both laughing hysterically, and neither noticed that another band had made its way onto the stage.
Draco looked up first. He stopped abruptly, ending the chorus of their combined laughter and leaving hers the only thing filling the awkward silence for the few seconds it took her to realize why he had stopped laughing. The band on stage was from the Ministry. Awkwardly enough their boss, Keith, was the lead singer and guitarist.
Both Draco and Ginny sat up straighter, and tried to act professional. Unfortunately that was pretty much useless after their laughing fit.
“We are the Department of Rock,” said Keith quickly filling in the silence. “This song is called ‘Wishing on Forever’. I hope you enjoy it.” They started the song.
Of course both Draco and Ginny would “enjoy it” whether it was good or not because neither of them wanted to tell their boss that he sucked. Luckily for them the band was pretty good. Although Keith did not have the greatest singing voice it was the lyrics that had them hooked.
The moment he finished they both said, “You’re in.” Then they looked at each other, surprised that they had both done the some exact thing. Ginny smiled, barely holding in another fit of giggles. Draco smiled quickly at her before turning back to the band and giving them the information they would need about the actual battle.
Ginny was stunned. She had never seen him smile before. She just stared at him thoughtfully as he talked to the band, and then looked away quickly before he noticed. His smile sent shivers up her spine. It made his entire face look softer and more handsome than before. He really was attractive normally, but his smile just made her melt.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Keith’s voice boomed at them from the stage microphone. “You’re not just letting us in because I’m your boss right?”
Ginny answered him first. “We would never do that Mr. Jacobson. You guys were great.”
Keith looked at her for a moment as if he knew she was lying about letting him in even if he was terrible, but then he smiled and left the stage leaving Draco and Ginny to deal with the shock of judging their boss.
Chapter 3 - The Auditions Part 2
Rio and the Kneazels took the stage. Unfortunately, neither Draco nor Ginny really heard any of their performance. Both were still in a state of shock after the Department or Rock. They were both in their own little worlds while the band performed. When they finished, Ginny was jolted back into reality. She quickly reached over to tap Draco’s shoulder so he didn’t miss any more than she did.
She was only half paying attention as she told the band the information about the performance day, because she could still feel where she touched him. Her hand was still slightly warm from the contact.
When the band had finally left the stage, Ginny turned to Draco and asked in a whisper, “Did you hear anything they played?”
“No, did you?” he whispered back. He looked a little guilty… well as much as possible for a Malfoy, which unsurprisingly was not a lot.
“No… I hope they were good ‘cause I let them in, and if they’re not it’s our fault. Neither one of us needs the blame right now.” Ginny was worried. She was dying to become the executive, and if this cost her that job… well, she would not be happy.
“Actually I would be fine if you got blamed for it… as long as I’m not in it,” he said smiling cheekily at her.
“Hey!” She smacked him. He glared at her. Ginny lazily tapped her chin with her index finger, trying to look thoughtful as she said, “Well, I guess I could live with it if you got blamed. Then I would become your boss and you would never live that down. Years from now I’ll hear the story of how the great, sexy Draco Malfoy screwed up and lost a job to a Weasley.”
“You think I’m sexy.” he said, making her blush.
“No, I think your mean and stuck up,” she replied too quickly. She knew it sounded like she was lying and that her face was bright red and giving her away. So what? She thought he was sexy, just like a million other girls out there.
“Liar.”
“No! I’m not ly-” She stopped talking when she realized how close they were. They were still whispering even though there was no band on stage to hear them. With each sentence they had slowly inched their heads closer together. Now just inches apart, she lost her train of thought when she accidentally glanced at his lips. She really was trying to ignore them.
He smiled slyly. “I knew it.” He saw her eyes move to his lips. He moved an inch closer. It would be so easy to kiss her right now. He watched her eyes close as he got just a tiny bit closer.
They both sprang back to their original positions when they heard the crash back stage. Ginny blushed even harder. Draco focused on the stage. The next band entered the stage, but he wasn’t sure it really was a band. Ginny’s blushed faded almost instantly when she saw the next band. She couldn’t believe it.
“Hi Miss Wheezy!” he said grinning like a madman. Then he sobered a little. “Hello Mr. Malfoy.”
Ginny mumbled some reply to the house elves that was too quiet and jumbled for any of them to hear.
Dobby, now smiling again, continued saying, “We is Dobby and the House Elves. We is happy to play our songs for you. Nobody give us a chance because we are not human, but I know Miss Wheezy would.” He was still smiling from ear to ear. Ginny smiled weakly back at him. Draco scowled.
Each elf was wearing random clothing items. Dobby was covered from head to toe in socks. A large tube sock with a hole in the top was used a type of shirt. He also had socks on his hands, feet, and head. A baby sock rested on his nose. The other members were dressed relatively normal. One was wearing an old beat up jumper and another was in a child’s dress. The last one was wearing a muggle pirate costume. All of the clothes were old and looked like they were taken from a dumpster.
Dobby looked at them hopefully, waiting for an answer.
“Yes, of course we will give you a chance, right Draco?”
He glared at her in a your-really-going-to-make-me-answer-that way. She nodded back at him, a plastic smile on her face. Sure she didn’t mind Dobby but house elves in general were way to damn annoying.
“Yes, of course,” he said, teeth clenched.
“You may start anytime Dobby,” Ginny said to the band, satisfied with Draco’s answer.
They started playing this indie style melody with the guitars. Then the drums joined in and Dobby started singing. She cringed. It wasn’t bad per say, but it gave her a headache. She decided they sounded like the chipmunks from this weird movie she watched while babysitting her nieces and nephews. It was very high pitch and squeaky.
Draco could care less what they sounded like. There was no way he would ever let in House Elves. He kept him face impassive as they finished the song. Ginny was talking to them before he had the chance to just kick them off stage.
“Um… sorry Dobby I just don’t think you guys are good enough to put in the show. Keep working on it though. Maybe you can perform next year,” She said smiling nicely to them as you would a three year old.
“Oh, thank you Miss Wheezy, thank you! We come again next year!” Dobby replied, smiling before he and the other House Elves ran off the stage in excitement.
To Draco and Ginny’s surprise they did not have to wait for the next band to arrive. The Bertie Botts Every Flavor Band was out on stage as soon as the House Elves were gone. They introduced themselves and began playing a soft country song.
Ginny turned to Draco and whispered, “Country? Who plays country at Battle of the Bands?”
He was about to reply when all of the sudden the band started playing a hard core metal song. They both realized at the same time that it was still the same song just with a different twist. The change reminded Ginny of listening to her WMP on shuffle where it just played a soft song then switched to a rock one. The change was startling, but sounded cool.
Draco thought it was amazing that they could do that. He was putting them in even if Ginny didn’t want to. He would probably have to do it without her agreement because he saw her jump when they switched.
They finally hit the last chord after a nice drum solo. Draco spoke to them first.
“What do you guys call that style?”
“Well,” said the lead singer, “we call it every flavor music. That’s how we got our name too.”
Draco smiled slightly, “Well it is good.” He then proceeded to give them the rest of the information. Ginny was staring at him again. She saw his face when they were playing. It looked like he hated it. She was still thinking and staring when he addressed her.
“Ginny? Giiiiny?” he said, waving his hand in front of her face quickly.
“What?” she asked, snapping out of her reverie.
“Am I that good looking that you couldn’t keep your eyes off of me?”
“No! I spaced out. You’re not that good looking.” She ginned at him playfully.
He smirked again. “I know you’re lying,” he said moving his face closer to hers once more. He liked being close to her.
“Am,” she swallowed heavily, “not.” She wanted him to kiss her. It wouldn’t take much. Oh, her family and friends would kill her, but she still wanted to do it. Today turned out much better than she had expected. Malfoy hadn’t been too much of a git, and she was actually enjoying his company.
He wanted to kiss her, he really did, but he wasn’t sure he should. His parents would flip out at him and his friends would send him to St. Mungos for a head exam. He was so close now, only a little bit more. He could feel her breath on his face. Once again her eyes fluttered shut. She was waiting for him.
Ginny was ready for it this time. She wanted it, she was sure of it this time. She would let him kiss her. If only he would.
He leaned toward her just barely grazing her lips with his own. She felt his lips finally touch hers. Her mouth erupted in fire at the simple touch. She moved her hand to his cheek pulling him a little closer.
“Oi! Can we play now?”
They jumped apart again. Harry and his band were up on stage. Ginny blushed from being caught, then her jaw dropped because Harry fucking Potter had just caught her kissing Draco Malfoy.
“Why were you kissing him? Did he Imperus you or something? I’m going to call the Aurors over here. Malfoy you are going to pay for this,” said Harry, fuming.
“Harry Potter you will do no such thing!” she yelled. “He is not the problem, you are. Now introduce yourselves and start playing or you can just leave now.”
Draco was ginning stupidly to himself as Ginny told off Potter. Well that and he had just made out with her. That had something to do with it too.
Harry opened and closed his mouth two or three times like a fish before saying,
“We are Harry and the Potters. This is our song called ‘I Saved the World’.” Then they began.
Draco leaned over to Ginny. “Is he more full of it than me?”
Ginny stifled a laugh. “Hell yea, without a doubt.”
“Good, that’s what I was hoping you would say. Can we just tell him he didn’t make it? I don’t want to deal with him again.”
This time she could not stop all of her laughter and she laughed out loud for a few seconds in the middle of their song. Harry glared at her from on stage. “That’s exactly what I was going to do,” she replied.
“Good,” he said, already thinking of how he wanted to tell him he didn’t make it. He was going to have fun with this.
The song ended and Draco started in on them. “Well you had way too many missed notes. It sounded horrible. You were way out of tune for the entire thing. It was a disaster. Unfortunately for you, we can’t let a disaster into our show. You may leave now.”
Harry did the fish thing with his mouth a few more times. “But, but… Ginny you can’t let him do this.” He pouted. Well he tried to pout. It didn’t work at all.
“I’m sorry Harry, Draco is right. We can’t have a disaster in our show.” She fake smiled at him.
“Draco? You’re calling him by his first name and you’re siding with him? Come on, it’s not fair,” Harry whined.
Both of them ignored him. Eventually he finally gave up and called his band off stage. Draco and Ginny burst out laughing the moment he was gone. And with that the auditions were over.
Chapter 4 - Battle of the Bands
“Hey, Ginny how did the auditions go yesterday? I heard not a lot of people signed up.”
Ginny looked up from her desk and saw her best friend at the office Elaine standing there. Elaine was a good enough friend, but she was next in line for Ginny’s job if she was promoted. She was a little too enthusiastic about helping Ginny beat Draco for the job.
Ginny replied, “Oh, it was fine. He was a prat as usual and the stick is still up his ass.” Ginny smiled at Elaine. She wasn’t telling anyone about the kiss. She wasn’t sure it actually meant anything. He had acted completely normal afterwards and they hadn’t talked about it. She wasn’t going to see him until the day of the actual event because they worked on different floors and had other work to do.
Harry had tried to tell her family what had happened between her and Draco, but they didn’t listen. As soon as she denied it herself, Harry gave up. Her family would never believe him over her. She didn’t want to make a big deal of it if nothing ever happened.
She liked him of course, but she had no idea what he thought of her. She desperately hoped he liked her romantically too. She would have to wait for him to tell, or show her. Ginny wasn’t a shy person, she just hated it when she was wrong about a guy liking her. He always had to make the first move. The kiss from the auditions didn’t count as a move…yet.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Draco had nothing to do but think for the moment. He wanted to tell Ginny how he was feeling. He could only think about her. It was different for him. He had never been tied down to one person before. He could have any girl he wanted.
Ginny was different. She made him laugh. He hadn’t laughed like that ever since way before Blaise was killed in the War. Blaise had been the only one who could make him laugh like that…until now.
He was going to make sure she knew that he really meant that kiss. He liked kissing her. It gave him this high that he craved constantly. He could be happy around her. She wouldn’t judge him by his name, or by his looks. He was going to tell her how he really felt about her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The sky was anything but clear on the day the Battle of the Bands was set to take place. The line to get in had been formed for hours now. Tickets were sold out. You could feel the excitement in the air.
Draco and Ginny had to go through the back doors to get into the Concert Hall for fear of getting mauled by the crowd. All of the Bands had arrived on time. Draco and Ginny had given them the order of their performances and had sent them off to the sound and lighting people.
They were going to be hosting the show together. They would introduce all of the bands, and announce the winner. They were also in charge of handing over the prize money. The entire night would be spent behind stage gauging the audience’s reaction. The crowd started filing into the hall about a half hour before the show was supposed to start.
Many had drinks from the bar in the back, and the noise was hard to hear over. “Five minutes to go!” Ginny yelled to the crew and performers back stage. She had a clipboard of the list of things she had to do before they started, and she was almost done with her list.
She turned in a circle looking for Draco. She had to make sure he knew what he was going to have to do once on stage. She finally found him behind all of the people leaning by the wall.
“Draco, are you ready to go?”
“Ready?”
“To go out on stage. We have to announce all of the bands.”
He looked at her like he was horrified. He glanced to where the entrance to the stage was and then turned his gaze on Ginny once more. He shook his head.
Ginny was confused. “Draco, we have to go. It’s about to start. Come on!” She grabbed his hand, but he didn’t budge.
“No, Ginny I can’t,” he said, sounding panicked.
“Why not? We don’t have much time for you to get it together.”
“I- I’m afraid of crowds. I always have been. Did you ever see any of the pictures of my family at press conferences after the War?”
“A few, I think. Come on, we don’t have time for this!”
“I’m naturally pale, but I always look sick in those pictures because I hate being in front of crowds. I did it just those few times so we could clear the family name. That’s all. I’m not going out there.”
Ginny just gaped at him. “Draco! You have to! There is not time to find anyone else! Let’s go!”
“Ginny, I can’t!” He was silently begging her.
“No, you are coming. All you have to do is act normal and read whatever they put on the script.” She grabbed his arm and forced him as best she could to the stage. He was protesting the entire time.
He was silent as soon as he was pushed through the curtain. Ginny watched whatever colour he had had, drain from his face.
She could feel the energy in the crowd. Most of them hadn’t even realized that anyone was on stage yet. She could feel the hum of excitement in the air. They knew the concert would begin any minute. The venue was large and completely filled with people all packed together. The smell of Firewhiskey faintly drifted over the crowd from the bar. The smell of mixed perfumes and colognes was getting stronger by the minute.
She grabbed the microphone and called their attention. The silence was so quick to come that it gave her the chills. All of those people were looking at her and Draco waiting for them to speak.
“Welcome to the Battle of the Bands! Are you guys ready to rock?!” Ginny exclaimed enthusiastically. The crowd roared. Draco’s line appeared on the scrip they were reading off of, but he didn’t say anything. Ginny elbowed him. Out of the corner of her mouth she whispered, “Say it. Just push it out. Now!”
He glanced over at her quickly panic clearly written on his face. Then he took a deep breathe and said, “Well…” He paused, and gulped. “I’m ready,” he said as loud as he could. It was lacking any energy though and the crowd booed. He glared at Ginny. She sighed. She would just have to do it herself.
“Well I’m ready! Here is how it’s going to work. We are going to rate your reactions as a crowd to discover our winner. So, if you like them you better yell it out! If you love them you better scream it!” The crowd erupted into cheers once more.
“First up we have The Department of Rock!” She pointed to the side of the stage where the band was entering, then dragged Draco off the other side.
“I’m not going out there again,” he said to her. He still looked a bit sick.
“Fine, just watch the crowd.”
The band played the same song they had auditioned with. The crowd was ready to become rowdy and crazy, but The Department or Rock didn’t get them there. They cheered at the end, but it was relatively boring.
Ginny went back on stage as soon as they were off of it.
“How did you like them?!” The crowd cheered again, but still not to their potential. “Now we have Rio and the Kneazles!”
Back stage once again, both Draco and Ginny were waiting to see what the band sounded like. The lights dimmed and a single spotlight came down upon the lead singer. The drums started playing a very low rhythmic tune. Then the guitar joined in with him.
Ginny was very aware that their boss was standing next to them listening too. The lead singer started chanting. She couldn’t understand them very well but she caught the word “feelings” a few times.
Keith turned to them looking confused. “Why did they get in? That lead guy isn’t your other secret boss is he?”
Ginny gave him a wan smile. “No.” Thinking fast she replied, “We thought there should be some diversity in the acts tonight.”
He nodded, before turning back to the band and smiling to himself. Ginny was up on stage the moment they finished.
“How did you like them?” she said sounding a little shaken. The crowd hardly cheered at all. She was scared that they had let in the wrong band and that she wasn’t going to get her promotion. Draco hadn’t said anything about them.
“Yes, well now we have Expecto PatrAWESOME!” Ginny went back stage again and stood next to Draco. Keith was no where to be seen.
He turned to her. “I’m sorry you have to do the announcing by yourself.”
“Well, it gives me even more of advantage of winning that executive position.” She smiled innocently at him.
HE just shook his head before turning back to the band. They were playing a completely different song. It was better than the one they had auditions with and the crowd was loving it. She could see them moving to the music. The entire mosh pit was moving. All, of their heads were like ripples of waves in the ocean. She saw a person trying to crowd surf.
They ended the song to a deafening amount of cheers from the crowd. Ginny had to wait a few moments on stage be fore she could be heard.
“Did you like them?!” She covered her ears at the screams. She laughed at their reaction. “Okay! Well there is only one band left. Up next we have the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Band!”
They took the stage with the crowd already pumped up. Ginny could smell sweat mixing with the alcohol. The band played the same song they had auditioned with too and got good reactions, but it was nothing compared to Expecto PatrAWESOME.
Ginny went back on stage again. “How was that?!” They cheered loudly. “Good, good. It is now time to announce the winner!” She paused as the crowd erupted in shouts.
“The prize is 1,000 Galleons and fourth place goes to…Rio and the Kneazles!” The crowd reluctantly cheered.
“The third runner up is…The Department of Rock!” The crowd cheered a little bit more, but still not too loudly.
“Second place goes to…Bertie Botts every Flavor Band!” The crowd gained a little more sound.
“That leaves your winner, Expecto PatrAWESOME!” The crowd roared its approval. Ginny handed over the prize check and then left the stage.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Keith called another meeting to discuss the Battle of the Bands and to officially promote either Draco or Ginny to be the executive. He was the last to arrive and everyone was chatting with each other a he walked in. He noticed that Draco and Ginny were sitting a little too close together. He had suspected that something had happened between the two of them during the auditions. Their closeness almost confirmed it.
He could hear only snippets of the conversations going on all around him.
“…they’re together?”
“...them having dinner last night. It was…”
“…they hated each other, but I…”
“…making out in the hall this morning…”
He smiled to himself. He had no idea that he would be hearing all about the date from his girlfriend later. He would get the details of how they were actually being nice to each other, and how they made a “cute” couple.
“Let’s get started guys,” he said, just loud enough so they could all hear him. “Today we are all here to discuss two things. First, we have the inflation problems. The Battle of the Bands was successful! We have made up the lost money, and are now out of the danger zone of having to raise our prices.
“Thanks to the work of both Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley, we sold out the venue. The entire thing was a gigantic success. I give my thanks to them for taking on such a project and making it amazing. Also, thank you to those of you who bought tickets to the event.”
Everyone applauded each other and congratulated Draco and Ginny. Both of them were happy but tense. They each wanted this job, and were anxious to find out who had got it.
“Now, let’s get onto the second order of business. Last meeting I mentioned that I was looking for a new executive to be in charge of both of the WWS stations. I have been keeping an eye on Draco and Ginny as they have organized the Battle of the Bands. I am pleased to have come up with a winner.
“I know both of you tried your hardest. You are both very deserving of this job, but I can only choose one of you. I have chosen Ginny Weasley as the new executive of the WWS companies.”
He waved her up to shake his hand. Everyone started clapping for her, even Draco. That would have never happened a few months ago. She smiled at everyone and thanked them generously.
Keith decided to cut in after a few moments. “Ginny has shown exceptional organizational skills and has showed me she is the perfect fit for this position. I am proud to have her in charge.”
Elaine was so excited that she was almost literally jumping up and down in her chair. She was taking over Ginny’s job which paid about twice what she had been getting.
“That’s it guys. I’ll talk to you when I see you,” he said, before walking out of the room and leaving everyone to celebrate together.
~fin~
ORIGINAL REQUEST:
Briefly describe what you'd like to receive in your fic (art)
Keeping the theme of competition in mind, Draco and Ginny both work for the same advertising firm. In order to receive a promotion (you can choose the new job title and their original job title), they must create an ad campaign for a wizarding Battle of the Bands. For the bands, you can include actual "wizard rock" bands like Harry and Potters, etc.
The tone/mood of the fic: It can be fluffy. Mostly humorous, sarcastic/snarky. If fluff is included, no super-fluff.
An element/line of dialogue/object you would like in your fic: One of the bands within must be named Rio and the Kneazels.
Preferred rating of the the fic you want: R and below to allow for potty mouth, should the author choose to use it, :D
Canon or AU? I'm not a canon-stickler, so AU's cool me.
Deal Breakers (anything you don't want?): PWP and pretty much anything that does not make sense with the prompt. Oh, and no heart-wrenching angst,