Chapter 2
"Ginny?" Ron asked tentatively, reaching out to touch his sister's shoulders.
"Nothing. Nothing's going on." Ginny shrugged to force Ron's hand off her in annoyance.
"What's going on between you two?"
"Nothing, Ron! Okay? Just drop it!"
"Tell me!"
"I said, `Drop it, Ron!'" Ginny yelled, and then left the compartment, leaving Ron alone.
"What the…?" Ron said to himself as his thoughts started taking over. What the heck was that? Oh man…did Malfoy put the Imperius on my sister?!?! They don't like each other, right? Ugh! What if they do?!?! Get a grip on yourself, Ron! Of course, Ginny wouldn't like that slime ball!! Yeah….. of course she wouldn't, she hates him! Maybe they were just talking... about Potions or something! There we go, I feel better now. But…what if…it's something else…..?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ginny sat nervously in an empty compartment, when the door opened and Draco stepped in, shutting the door behind him.
"Oh, finally!" she said as she stood up to greet him, "What took you so long?"
"Well…for two stupid idiots…they're really hard to lose!"
Ginny couldn't help but smile at that remark, but then she got serious again, "Why didn't you tell me you lost your badge?"
"Hang on…… I'll get to that in a minute…" he replied as he walked up to Ginny and placed his lips on hers. He put both hands on her face as his tongue sought entrance to her mouth. Ginny put one hand behind Draco's head, playing with his hair, and put the other hand on his arm as she granted him permission to enter her mouth. Their kiss was needy and passionate with a touch of love and tenderness. And after… a really long time, they both pulled away breathless.
"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to do that?" Draco whispered, as he placed his forehead on hers.
"Two months, twenty-one days, and nine hours," she whispered back.
"You kept track?"
She shrugged, "What can I say? Weasleys do weird things sometimes."
Draco snorted sardonically, "Jeez….. it was only three months? It felt like two years. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too."
"This summer was the worst. I never really felt it before….. the coldness of everything at the Manor… but after you… that place felt like a really, really cold hell."
"That bad, huh?" he just nodded in reply, "Well, maybe you don't have to go back…"
"I know I'm not going back…I never want to see my father again!" Draco replied with the sound of intense hatred in his voice.
Sensing that he didn't want to talk about his home life anymore, Ginny changed the subject, "So why didn't you tell me you lost your badge?"
Draco sighed, "I don't know."
"Look, Draco, I told you this in the beginning… if we're going to do this… if we're going to be together, we have to be honest with each other."
He nodded and met her gaze with his own, then looked down slightly, "I know…"
"Well then, what? Did you think I wasn't going to find out? I mean, that's not exactly something you can hide easily although you obviously did a damn good job!"
"No, no, nothing like that! I just… didn't know how to tell you."
"`Honey, I lost the Prefect's Badge,' would work," Draco gave her an amused look, catching her vague reference to the Muggle movie they saw last year, but didn't say anything so she continued, "Why did you lose it anyway?"
Draco sat down, leading Ginny next to him, "I don't know. I just… got tired of it. I mean, it was so cool at first; being able to patrol the halls in the middle of the night, being able to take off points from other houses! I felt….. powerful, you know, like I meant something. But then, last year, everything… changed. Suddenly, everything that was cool about it just felt burdensome….. annoying even. So I just… stopped going to meetings, stopped everything…except the going out at night part… I did that a lot," he smiled.
Ginny smiled back and then said, "I know that we had started dating before this happened, or at least during."
"Actually, it was a couple of weeks after I started slacking off."
"So how come you never told me about it? It's not like it's that big of a deal to me."
"I always meant to….. but you know how it is, the longer you wait, the harder it is to tell."
Ginny seemed satisfied with that answer, "Okay… just don't let it happen again."
Draco smiled and replied, "I won't"
"Good! Anymore deep, dark secrets I should know about?"
"Actually, yeah…there is one thing."
"What?"
"I'm gay!" Draco grinned maniacally, and quirked his eyebrows in anticipation of Ginny's reaction.
Ginny sighed in exasperation and rolled her eyes.
"But other than that, nope."
"All right then."
"So we're good?"
"Yeah," Ginny said as she moved to sit on Draco's lap, "We're good."
Draco smirked and then said, "Good…..then that means I can do this…" and he leaned forward to kiss his girlfriend again.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ron entered the now empty compartment that Harry and Hermione just left. As he neared the seat, he saw the note Harry had left for him, explaining their disappearance.
Ron-
Went to see the HB & HG compartment. Be back in a bit…maybe! Kidding, kidding, pull your mind from the gutter, Ron.
~Harry & Hermione
Ron laughed and said, "Man, I knew they got the positions, but a compartment to themselves?!" After a minute, he looked around the empty room and realized something, "Wait a second… now what am I supposed to do?"
Fortunately, a loud group of familiar faces entered the compartment. The people forming that group were….
Neville Longbottom, who had in the last two years gone through many changes. He had grown at least a foot, had a charming smile, and a laugh that could make even Professor Snape smile (and often did! Though he refused to let anyone see or admit it.) He was now very fond of cracking jokes and did it often, but he still knew when to be serious. Everyone knew that when he and Ron were in the same room, there would be a lot of laughs.
Dean Thomas, who still loved soccer and played it often, he was now the "anchor" for the Quidditch games. He would have tried out for the Chaser position but didn't because he wasn't accustomed to using his hands in a game. He was currently dating Parvati Patil.
And last, but not least, Lavender Brown. Lavender had changed as well. Her hair now went a few inches past her shoulders and was layered so that it framed her face very well. However, probably the biggest change was in her personality. It started the summer after 5th year. Her parents, who were both well-known people in her city, constantly in the newspapers, had divorced. Apparently, all the rumors that were circulating about them had finally torn them apart. For the first time in her sheltered life, Lavender had seen the damaging effects of gossip up close. Seemingly overnight, she had returned to Hogwarts a completely different person. Suddenly, she took no pleasure in spreading rumors or talking behinds a person's back. Ironically, after proving she could (and would) keep a secret, people came to talk to her. They would share their problems with her and she would give them advice or just listen to them. She had become something of a counselor to the students at Hogwarts. And she had also managed to become good friends with Hermione.
Anyway….let's get back to the present, shall we?
"Oh, thank Merlin! You guys are just in time to rescue me from boredom!"
"Crud! I knew we undershot our arrival…." Neville joked, then turned to Dean and said, "Should we go up and down the train again?"
"Wow….. six seconds and you've already cracked a corny joke!" Ron said with a smirk on his face.
Neville looked shocked as he asked Dean, "What was that? Did he just insult my sense of humor?"
Dean replied, "Actually, mate…I think he insulted you in general."
Neville looked at Ron, "Did you just insult me?"
Ron answered, with a hint of cockiness in his voice, "So what if I did?"
Neville laughed, "I've missed ya, man!" and slapped Ron on the back in a brotherly fashion.
Ron grinned, "Me too."
Lavender joined in the conversation, "You boys do realize that you have yet to include me in this conversation?"
Ron joked, "Oh, I'm sorry, Lavender. Did we hurt your feelings?"
Lavender replied as she ruffled Ron's hair, "No, but you better watch it from it from now on!"
"Hey, hey, watch the hair! Watch the hair!"
Lavender laughed and said, "That was so Jesse from `Full House'!"
Dean laughed while a confused Ron and Neville looked at Lavender with questioning looks on their faces.
Lavender started to explain, "It's a…Muggle….." Then realized who she was talking to and trailed off a bit, "… show. Oh, never mind."
"Okay…" Ron said, "Any ways…" then he laughed and asked Lavender, "How have you been? How was your summer?"
"It was fine, "she replied, with a tone of finality in her voice that made it clear that she didn't really want to talk about it.
Ron took the hint, "Well, I missed you," he said, reaching forward to give Lavender a hug which she accepted gratefully.
Ron whispered in her ear, softly so that the other boys couldn't hear, "If you need to talk about it….. I'm here, okay?" She just nodded in reply, blinking back tears.
Dean and Neville realized that they should probably leave the two alone to talk. So, as Ron and Lavender pulled away from their hug, Neville said, "Hey, Dean, we'd better go find Seamus before he tries to make some rum again."
He laughed, "Yeah, you're right."
A few minutes later, Ron and Lavender had embraced in another hug again, and Ron asked her, "So, what happened?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Oh, my….. Harry, this is incredible!"
"No kidding…… if this is just for the train ride…how will our rooms at Hogwarts be?"
"I don't know….. but I can't wait to find out…"
They stared in awe at their train compartment…
Harry moved over to the magical bookshelf that held every book ever written as well as every CD and movie ever made.
He remembered a song that he had heard once a long time ago, found the CD and then headed over to the stereo to play it.
Thank you for this moment
I've gotta say how beautiful you are
Of all the hopes and dreams I could have prayed for
Here you are
Hermione smiled as Harry moved over to her and asked, holding his hand out, "May I have this dance?"
She smiled again, nodded, and let him lead her to an empty spot in the compartment.
If I could have one dance forever
I would take you by the hand
Tonight it's you and I together
I'm so glad I'm your man
And if I lived a thousand years
You know I never could explain
The way I lost my heart to you
That day
But if destiny decided I should look the other way
Then the world would never know
The greatest story ever told
As the song played, Harry whispered the words into Hermione's ear, "And did I tell you that I love you…Tonight…"
Hermione rested her head on Harry's shoulder as they danced.
I don't hear the music
When I'm looking in your eyes
But I feel the rhythm of your body
Close to mine
It's the way we touch that sends me
It's the way we'll always be
Your kiss, your pretty smile
You know I'd die for
Oh baby
You're all I need
And if I lived a thousand years
You know I never could explain
The way I lost my heart to you
That day
But if destiny decided I should look the other way
Then the world would never know
The greatest story ever told
Hermione whispered softly into Harry's ear, "I never get tired of dancing with you…"
Harry smiled, kissed her forehead and said, "I know….. neither do I."
And did I tell you that I love you
Just how much I really need you
Did I tell you that I love you?
Tonight
Tonight
And if I lived a thousand years
You know I never could explain
The way I lost my heart to you
That day
But if destiny decided I should look the other way
Then the world would never know
The greatest story ever told
"I love you, Hermione."
"I love you too, Harry."
And did I tell you that I love you
Just how much I really need you
Did I tell you that I love you tonight?
The two continued dancing for a long time.
*~*~*~*
A/N: Hope you liked it. I'll update again soon. Reviews would be nice…*blushes shyly*