Finding Forever

Chapter One

She watched Harry at his table in the library. He was laughing quietly with Hermione and Ron, over something clever Hermione had said no doubt. Hermione's eyes sparkled, and the boys listened in total captivation. They saw Hermione in a way Ginny could only dream of them seeing her.

Ginny watched as Hermione tilted her head and laughed at a joke Harry had made. Her bushy hair fell into her face when she looked down again, and she smiled as Harry picked up her quill and used it to hold her hair back. Ginny sighed regretfully. If only she could be that close to Harry....

They had asked Ginny to sit with them, but she'd refused. She'd claimed she had something she needed to look up in this or that encyclopedia, but she just didn't want to get in their way. Besides, Ginny thought begrudgingly, they seem to be having a fine time without me. She buried herself in the first textbook she'd found, 1001 Herbs You Thought Were Useless, But Aren't. Ginny pretended to be deeply involved in the effects of basil in a plant growth potion as Harry stood up and approached her.

"You find what you were looking for?" He peered over her shoulder and looked skeptically at her book.

She tried to be casual, lightly flipping her hair over her shoulder in an attempt to flirt a bit, and nodded. "Yeah," she lied, tapping her book. "Right where I thought it would be."

Hermione and Ron had finally gathered their books and rejoined Harry. "Ready to go, Harry?" Hermione asked. "You have to be on the Quidditch pitch by seven, and it's already six-thirty. Ron and I want to get there early so we can get good seats..."

Ron grimaced. "Yeah, Hermione's right. We still have to stop by the common room to give Neville his wand back too, he dropped it earlier."

The three walked away, forgetting to say goodbye to Ginny, until they reached the door. Harry pulled at Ron's sleeve. "Should we have asked Ginny to go with us? She might be upset we didn't... girls are sensitive like that."

"Nah," Ron rolled his eyes and spoke in a tone which made it clear what he was saying should be obvious. "She's not really a girl. She's just my sister." Harry shrugged, and they ran to catch up with Hermione.

Ginny had heard them. After all, they had only been a few feet away and Ron hadn't made an effort to be quiet about it. He always was the careless one. Not a girl. Thanks Ron. How am I ever supposed to have any chance with Harry, if all Ron does is enforce that I'm just his little sister? I'm very much a girl... Ginny sighed, sinking again into the chair and trying not to be too upset with Ron. Soon she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey, Ginny," Seamus Finnigan grinned, his hands in his pockets. His hair had been cut recently, she could tell. It was a bit too short in the back, but at least he didn't have that stupid tail anymore. He was tall, but not gawky, thin but not twiggy. He had the muscles of someone who obviously practiced for his team. Ginny smiled back, straightening her posture a bit.

"What have you been up to?"

Ginny shrugged. "Not too much, you?"

Seamus shifted his weight a bit. "Just stopping by to say hello...I was just about to head to the pitch, for the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff game. I have to be on my broom in, what, fifteen minutes? Are you going to go?"

"Yeah, I probably will." And watch Harry for awhile, she thought about adding, but didn't.

Seamus beamed. "Great! Cause, you see, there's this party if we win, and I was hoping you would go with me. There'll be food, and card games, and Exploding Snap, and-"

Ginny cut him off. Boys never 'just stop to say hello', she laughed silently. "Yeah, Seamus, I'll go with you." Who needs Harry and Ron anyway? At least Seamus thinks I'm a girl, she thought defiantly. He was nice enough, and why shouldn't she have a good time? She stood up and started gathering her books.

Seamus put on his cloak and grabbed his broom, which had been resting lazily against a bookshelf. "Meet me in the common room after the game?" he asked her.

She nodded, and he left. Ginny picked up her bag and headed to the common room to drop it off and pick up her cloak before she went to the game.

Walking through the corridors, Ginny juggled her books and supplies, nearly losing hold of everything at least twice. I really should make a point not to carry so much, she thought, irritated.

Just as she'd finished that thought, she turned the corner, to see two boys rush through the halls. One, gaining on the other, appeared for a second as a blur of black. The other, Neville Longbottom, took that moment to crash into Ginny, stumbling, and then running on, still in obvious fright, from the black blur in the distance.

Ginny knelt to gather her fallen books and quills, but looked up just in time to see the once advancing boy trip over her and crash into a suit of armor.

The armor fell on top of him, and all Ginny could see of him was his head, covered by his cloak due to the fall, and his hand.

"Weasley!" Ginny instantly recognized the voice. His identity was confirmed by the silver ring on his hand. He had a manly, yet somehow delicate hand, and the ring matched his skin tone nicely. However, this was Malfoy, and she wouldn't allow herself to gawk at him like that idiot Pansy Parkinson did.

"WEASLEY!" he shouted again, and she snapped out of her thoughts. He may have been an arrogant git, but he was an arrogant git trapped under a rather heavy metal body. Feeling charitable, she took out her wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa..." she muttered. The armor became upright with a swish and flick of her wand. Malfoy rose slowly to his knees, combing his hands back through his mussed silver hair. It refused to stay in place, falling back into his eyes. He picked up his wand, which had flown from his pocket at the impact, shoving it into his robe.

"Think it'd be funny to trip me, eh, Weasley? Trying to protect pathetic little Longbottom?" he sneered at her, brushing the dust of his cloak in a superior manner.

Ginny glared at him. "You would think that wouldn't you? That I'd try to trip anyone! And to think, after your eloquent upbringing you can't even rise above chasing a defenseless boy through the halls. What did Neville do now, continue to exist? Seriously, Malfoy, I should have just left you trapped under the armor." She felt her ears turn pink in anger as she collected her things to leave.

As she started to walk away, however, he turned her around with a forceful pull of her arm. His body could not have been more than a hand-span away from hers and it seemed to radiate a heated power. "If you think, Weasley," he whispered in a deeper, gruffer voice than normal, a glint in his eye, "that you can ever leave a Malfoy, you are vastly mistaken."

With that he let her go, disappearing around the corner and leaving her alone in the corridor.

Chapter Two

Ginny stood in the hallway, rigid in confusion, fear, and shock. What could he have meant by that? She hoped it wasn't meant hostilely, that he could sneak up behind her at any time and humiliate or hurt her...then again, this was Malfoy. She knew he'd get her for insulting him the way she did, but she prayed he wouldn't do anything drastic.

She straightened her robes and picked up her scattered belongings. 'When had they fallen on the floor again?' she wondered. 'Probably when he scared the living daylights out of me.' She rushed to the common room. She only had – she checked her watch – 10 minutes to get her cloak, get to the game, and find a seat where she could see Seamus...and Harry, of course.

She dropped off her backpack, grabbed her old cloak, and headed out of the Gryffindor dorms. When she reached the entrance to the pitch, she found Colin Creevey, who was waving his arms at her.

"Ginny! Over here!" His camera, on a strap over his shoulder, bounced on his side as he jumped, trying to get her to see him. He had never been very tall, and was now pushing 5'7", only an inch taller than Ginny. "Ginny!" he yelled again, even though she knew he must have noticed that she was approaching him, with an exasperated look on her face.

"Colin," Ginny said as soon as she got within hearing distance. "Don't make such a scene." But no one was actually looking at either of them, she saw; everyone too busy awaiting the start of the game.

Colin took Ginny's arm and pointed towards the stands. "We're over there, seventh row, left side."

She nodded. 'Not a bad spot really, glad he got here early,' she thought. They climbed up to their seats, making their way through the already seated people. Hermione and Ron were a couple rows down to the right, and Ron looked more than a little fidgety. Hermione was pointing at Harry and Ron was nodding excitedly.

"So what did you do today, Ginny? You go to the library with the trio?" Colin gave her an innocent smile as he adjusted his omnioculars to focus on Harry.

"Yeah, well, sort of...not with them per say..."

"Oh Gin, you didn't sit out again did you? You know they wouldn't mind you joining them!"

"I know, I just feel like a fourth wheel with them, you know?"

Colin smiled at her patiently, as though she were five years old, and spoke slowly. "Most wheeled things have four wheels, Ginny. Four wheeled things are stable. Like cars, and trains, and –"

She gave him a look. "You know what I mean. They're so wrapped up in themselves, it wouldn't matter if I sung "I'm a Little Teapot" while dancing on their table! Hermione is so busy with her schoolwork and Ron is busy fawning after Hermione, and Harry's just so troubled half the time that he clings to the two of them. Throw me in there, and that's all you've done. Just thrown an extra person in, who has no purpose whatsoever." She buried her head in her arms. "And Ron told Harry I wasn't even a girl! I'll always be just Ron's little sister to everyone. Why can't they see me?"

Colin put his arm around her and hoped she wasn't crying. He never was good at comforting people, as people spent most of their time trying to comfort the charity case that was him. He patted her shoulder cautiously and shifted uncomfortably on the bench.

Ginny took a deep breath. 'It's okay,' she told herself. 'People believe in me, and I believe in myself and what the Dream Team thinks of me is of no consequence.' She slowly regained her composure and brushed away at her eyes. 'This is the last time I let myself get upset over whether they like me or not.'

Ginny smiled at Colin, and took the omnioculars. She refocused them from Harry to Seamus, who was mounting his broom. The two teams were ready to start. The whistle blew, the balls were released and Ernie Macmillan reported from his stand. Ernie had taken over for Lee Jordan after Lee had left Hogwarts.

"They're off, folks! Laura Madley, fourth year chaser and Hufflepuff star, has just outrun that bludger! She zips to the left...Watch out Hannah, it's coming at you now! Hufflepuff has the quaffle again...Hufflepuff scores!!!"

Ginny ignored the commentary and watched Seamus. 'Yeah, that's right... forget about Harry. Seamus is a great guy...' When he saw her looking at him, he pulled a stunt move, diving down for no specific reason, then making a sharp right turn and pulling the broom up. He beamed at her, then rejoined the game. Ginny grinned. '...but a show off...'

Hufflepuff had become harder to beat since Laura Madley joined the team, but this game was no break from Gryffindor's winning streak. Harry had caught the snitch, and the game was over. Scarlet and gold banners flashed and the Gryffindors cheered as the teams left the field. The fans poured out of the stands and the Gryffindor team went off to celebrate.

Ginny remembered that Seamus had asked her to meet him in the common room after the game. She turned to Colin, who was taking photos of the cheering fans.

"Colin, I'm going to go now, I'm supposed to meet Seamus soon. All right?" She wondered if he had heard her, until he turned to face her, snapping a photo. She tried to block her face with her arms, but Colin's quick photo reflexes and her slow defensive ones allowed the picture to be taken. She had stars in her eyes now from the flash, and got a disorientated feeling because of it. Colin still pretended he hadn't heard what she'd said.

"What was that, Ginny?" he asked, poised to take another picture. "You said you're going to meet Seamus?" -Click- Ginny reacted quickly enough this time, her hands were now blocking the camera's view. "Did he invite you to the team party?" -Click- She got up and started walking out of the stands, toward the exit.

"Yeah, I'll see you later, Colin," she called behind her. She worked her way through the crowd, and somehow managed to make it back to the common room. Upon entering, it was impossible not to notice that the scarlet and gold flashing banners had been moved from the field, and some of the cheering Gryffindors that filled the room even wore their old "We love Harry" pins from years ago.

Nearly everytime Gryffindor won, someone would throw a party like this back at the common room. It would have been a free invitation party, but some of the sixth and seventh years had decided against that in order to keep it on the smaller side and because of the younger students that could come in. After all, they couldn't have that, as things would sometimes get a little too crazy for a little first year's liking. Therefore, it had been set up, for the past few years, that each team member was allowed one invitation to a non-team member, providing that they didn't invite anyone too young.

It was obvious Ron, who'd been invited by Harry, had snuck in some things from the twins' shop. A couple of people's hair had flashing scarlet and gold hairstreaks, and small confetti firecrackers were exploding in various corners of the room. At least those were the tamer ones.

Dean Thomas called out to the group. "We're going down to the kitchens...what do we want?"

The crowd shouted different answers, and he ended up shrugging and leaving the room with Seamus, who had given her a wink and a look that said "I'll be right back." Hermione (on invite by an extra Lavender had) called after the boys, going with them to make sure they didn't mistreat the elves. Ginny smiled when she noticed Hermione was wearing her S.P.E.W. pin instead of the typical "We love Harry".

Soon the boys were back, and with large amounts of food. They settled bags of chips, dishes of puddings and cakes, leftovers from yesterday's banquet, and a rather large self - refilling punchbowl with a cloudy pinkish-blue liquid in it.

Lavender Brown pointed at the drink and wrinkled her nose. "What IS that?"

George Weasley gave her a proud smile. "That," he said with a flourish of his hand, "is Kool - Aid."

Fred was suddenly at his brother's side and with an equally proud grin. "It's amazing! It doesn't even come in a bottle or anything!" He waved a packet. "See? It's from an envelope!"

Parvati and Lavender stared bright-eyed at the packet before latching onto Fred and George's arms. The boys winked at Ginny. She gave the liquid an inquiring look.

"What flavor is it? It's a rather odd color..."

Fred shook his head, lost in the euphoria of being surrounded by two enthusiastic girls. "I don't know... I just added five packets or so... Different kinds I'd guess."

Ginny shrugged and took a small cupful of it. After taking a sip, she winced. "ALL you added was the powder?!"

George nodded happily. "Yep! Great, huh?"

"It's horrible! There's supposed to be sugar in it, you twits! Why didn't the house elves make this?"

"Hermione wouldn't let us...house elf liberation and all that. So we figured it couldn't be too hard..."

Grumbling something about the stupidity of teenage boys, Ginny took out her wand and muttered a spell she used regularly on her tea. She was about to get an un-bitter cup of punch when a hand rested on her shoulder, getting her attention. She whipped around to find a smiling Finnigan in front of her. His boyishly cut sandy hair and wholesome smile personified the character that was Seamus. He was still wearing his Quidditch robes and his cloak which, Ginny noticed, had a little green shamrock embroidered by the clasp in the front. She smiled at that.

"Hi," she said, moving her stare from the shamrock to his eyes.

"Hiya, Ginny. Like me Irish pride?" He quit his forcibly heavy Irish accent. "My mum put it there. Supposed to remind me of home." He imitated his mother, "'Stay true t' yer roots Seamus dear, and yer home and yer family will never be far from yer heart.'" He made a goofy grin at the sappiness of it, but she thought it was cute. She didn't get too much sappiness with six brothers. Seamus continued, "They're playing cards over there, or we can play chess, or Exploding Snap, or..."

"Cards will be fine," Ginny smiled. She looked over at the card table where Fred, George, Dean, and Harry were about to start a round of poker. Lavender and Parvati were hanging on Fred and George respectively, though Ginny didn't think either girl knew the two of them apart well enough to know which boy they were clinging to. Dean was shuffling a red deck of cards and Harry was poking at a small crack in his glasses with his wand, apparently trying to fix it.

Ron and Hermione were playing a game of chess. Ron stopped to laugh evilly as his knight stomped hers to bits, not realizing his queen would be taken by her bishop.

"Ronald Weasley! I refuse to beat the pants off you if you're not trying! Now start focusing!" Hermione demanded indignantly.

"But 'Mione, I am focusing!"

'So he's letting her win,' Ginny realized.

Ginny decided to focus on her game as well. She had taken a seat between Seamus and Dean and now waited until Dean had finished dealing the cards. She looked at her hand and called the bet of ten Bertie Bott's Beans when it came to her, hoping she might end up with something after the draw. Damn her brothers for not allowing wild cards...

She looked at Seamus, who was studying his cards now, but had previously been sneaking glances at Ginny. He saw her looking at him, and smiled confidently. Obviously, he thought he stood a chance. Harry fiddled with the glasses still on his nose, looking dismayed at his new cards. He folded, leaving everyone else to show their cards. Lavender kissed Fred on the cheek when he won the hand, eating one of his betting beans, then grimacing at the horrible flavor...

An hour later, when Ginny was full of multi-flavored punch and Bertie Bott's Beans, the game ended, Ginny only behind George's win by 25 beans. Harry had lost everything within twenty minutes, and had joined Ron and Hermione, who had been talking on the couch after Hermione's win. The group of people who had played Exploding Snap had paired off and were in various darker parts of the common room or on "walks". Seamus left Ginny to talk to Dean ("Back in a minute, Ginny!"), and the twins were off with the Parvati and Lavender. Ginny was alone.

'I might as well just go to bed, no one seems to need me here.' She got Seamus' attention. "I'm going to head up for bed," she told him. "Thanks for inviting me, Seamus."

"Are you sure, Ginny? Do you want me to walk you upstairs?" he asked.

"No, I'll be fine. Good night, Seamus. You too, Dean." Dean nodded pleasantly at her, and Seamus kissed her cheek. She waved goodbye to Harry, Hermione and Ron and headed up the stairs.

'They didn't mean to ignore me,' Ginny rationalized. 'Seamus was just talking to his best friend and the trio, well... I'm tired anyway.'

So everything was fine. She'd had an afternoon with Colin, Gryffindor had won the game, Seamus had been a perfect gentleman, and she'd had an evening full of cards. So why had she felt something was missing? Everything was fine...

Chapter Three

When the sun rose the next morning, Ginny immediately decided that getting out of bed might be the worst decision she could make all day.Groaning over a massive headache, she rolled over in her bed.What reason did she have to get out of bed today? It was a Sunday, so she had no classes.

She really hoped she wouldn't be stuck cleaning up last night's party with Ron like last time. At least the twins had gone back home; that was a plus. She laughed to herself. Dumbledore still didn't know they'd sneaked in for every party since they left Hogwarts.Merlin, those boys were crafty. That was another reason the younger years couldn't come to the party- Young students were notorious gossips and snitches, no matter what house they were from. True, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were better known for their loyalty, but things got around.

Ginny grumbled at her clock and rolled out of bed. She had to get up now if she wanted to be on time for breakfast, though she wasn't very hungry. She'd had so much junk food the night before; she needed something healthy in her stomach before it consumed itself. She ran a comb through her hair, marveling at how tangled it could get in a couple of hours.Even as she finished, her hair looked remarkably similar to when she had woken up.

"Really, dear," the mirror began, "I know you can do better than that…" Ginny stuck her tongue out at it and left the dorm for the Great Hall.As she entered, Seamus waved for her to sit next to him. It was odd to sit at that end of the table. Normally, Ginny would sit to Ron's side, across from Harry, and eat quietly, listening to them talk.Sometimes she'd sit by Colin, but he normally skipped breakfast. Now she was next to Seamus and Lavender, across from Dean and Parvati.

It felt odd and uncomfortable.Seamus was talking with Dean about yesterday's game, and Lavender and Parvati were gossiping about something Ginny didn't care to listen to. Shifting in her seat, she poked at her food. This really didn't seem right.

Actually, she had never felt in place during breakfast, but today was different. Today she wasn't dependent on Harry, Ron or Hermione. Today she was on her own with a guy who liked her for who she was, and damn it, she should try and enjoy herself.

She twirled a piece of her hair between her fingers.She found herself thinking about Malfoy and why he hadn't tried to pull anything yet. Maybe he's not going to do anything at all... maybe he'll just leave me alone... maybe he was just bluffing... then again, Malfoy isn't known for empty threats...

She shook herself, and found that her thoughts moved to Seamus. He acts like he likes me, and asks me to come over here, then ignores me? He hasn't talked to me since he invited me over here, and that was 20 minutes ago... it's always about Dean isn't it? I'm always just going to be the one everyone ignores aren't I?

Suddenly, Ginny's attention was brought back to reality when a pair of fingers snapped in her face. "Ginny! Ginny, are you there?"Seamus grinned at her.

"Don't snap at me, of course I'm 'here'."Irritated, she stabbed a pancake.

"Gosh, take it easy Gin, I didn't mean..." He touched her shoulder, but she took his hand off her and stood up.

"You don't mean much of what you say, do you?"she asked him.

He just looked at her, confused by her reaction. The way things were going, she'd never let him take her to Hogsmeade two weeks from now. He didn't think he'd done anything particularly wrong, and made a mental note to ask Dean about it later.Dean always knew what to do about things like this.

Ignoring a bewildered Seamus and observant Dean, Ginny left the Great Hall. She made her way out of Hogwarts, in an attempt to settle down. She found a small nook in the wall of the castle, which was just about big enough for her to sit in, with her legs bent and crossed in front of her.

Ginny pushed her hair out of her face and grumbled, "I'm over-reacting, I know. Seamus didn't ignore me really… It's just what I'm making out of it. Well, it is partly his fault. If he didn't have the decency to –"

"– at least pay you for your services?"

Draco Malfoy, who seemed to have popped out of nowhere, stood in front of Ginny. He leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest.

Her head, which had been facing the side of the nook before, turned to look at him. He wore a heavy cloak of a shiny, deep forest green material with an intricate silver clasp, black slacks and a gray shirt. His hair wasn't slicked back like it had been when he was younger, but instead fell over his eyes. He would've been quite sexy if he wasn't such a git all the time. His familiar smirk snapped her back to reality.

"And here I thought it was Seamus who had no decency,"she commented.

Malfoy looked down at her condescendingly. "What'd he do? Ignore you like everyone else does?"His sarcastic tone made Ginny all the more defensive.

"How would you know, Malfoy?You don't know anything about me!" Ginny retorted. She'd come to the conclusion that he existed merely to make her feel horrible about herself.What he said next definitely affirmed that idea.

"I know you're a poor, good-for-nothing Weasley with that horrid hair all of you have, who obviously isn't special enough for even her brothers or her friends to notice her." His fingers rubbed his cloak as he'd said it, but Ginny didn't notice the slight movement.She was angry that he could say something so hurtful so easily, but she also thought he was right.She tried to open her mouth with some sarcastic retort, but nothing came out.

"What? Nothing to say to that, Weasley?" He smirked."I guess it just proves –"

"It proves how much of an ass you are, Malfoy."Her eyes flared in anger. "You'd better back off! You know nothing!You don't know me, or my family, or what I've gone through, or –"

Malfoy had slid down against the wall beside her, one arm on his bent leg, the other straight out in a casual manner. He interrupted her, "Weasley, are you ever going to stop talking?"

She looked at him, finally noticing he was blocking her exit unless she climbed over him.She wondered how she'd find her way out of the nook until she saw him start to lean toward her.The cool morning air suddenly seemed a lot warmer, and she realized she didn't know what to do with her hands.Her mind raced as he neared her.

She didn't have much time to think about her hands, though.His face was now so close to hers, it was amazing that he wasn't touching her. His hair fell from his eyes onto her cheeks as his head tilted down to meet hers.She stared at him, frozen in shock of his closeness.His lips just barely brushed hers as he whispered to her, "I don't think you understand, Weasley..." His lips moved from her lips to her cheek, moving slowly to her ear. Her eyes closed, and she noticed his woodsy scent, which made her temperature rise quickly. "I know you very well."

His voice made her shiver, his words vibrating through her ear in his sexy tone.She leaned back, pressing up against the cold wall, her head resting back on it. She thought he would kiss her then – almost wished he would kiss her then – but when she opened her eyes, he was gone.

Chapter Four

It was over as quickly as it had begun.Ginny touched her lips reverently as she shivered in the nook. She'd finally realized how cold it was this morning, without him hovering over her as he had been. She wrapped her cloak around her arms and stood up to gather what books she had taken with her.

As she got up, something a bit smaller than a bottle cap fell off of her, glinting in the light as it hit the ground. Ginny stooped to pick it up and looked at it curiously.At first she thought it was a pin, but soon realized it was a necklace charm.It was silver, with a dark, nearly opaque, purple stone in the center.The stone seemed to swirl as she held it in her hand. 'I'll have to get this back to him, he must have dropped it. Curious... why would Draco even have a necklace?' she thought as she dropped it into her pocket and made her back into the castle.

Ginny looked at her watch.It was already 8:30, and if she was going to anything today, now would be the time to decide.She still had to do her potions homework; she headed for the Gryffindor common room.Still a bit flustered from before, she hardly noticed Harry in the corner as she walked toward her dorm. Instead, she was stopped by Seamus, who tapped her shoulder as she'd started up the stairs.

He looked a bit nervous as he looked at her, like a first year asking Snape for his grade.She had softened considerably from their conversation before.Maybe it was because she had time to settle down, or maybe it because of something else, but she felt lighter than normal.

"Seamus, I'm sorry I snapped at you before.You really didn't deserve that; I just blew things out of proportion."

She gave him a soft smile, which relieved him greatly.His posture relaxed and he slid his arms around her waist. "You know, Ginny, I really hoping you'd say something like that." He gave her a chaste kiss on the lips, which made her smile. He stepped back and offered her his hand."A game of chess?"

"Sure, but I'm warning you, I'm not nearly as good as Ron!" she grinned.

Ginny left Seamus around three to finish her schoolwork in the library.She approached Harry and Hermione, who were sitting at a table in the western corner of the library. Hermione was pouring over a rather large, dusty book, while Harry twiddled with his quill distractedly. He seemed to have some trouble concentrating, and Ginny's though was affirmed when he stood up, threw his arms (and his quill) in the air.

"I don't see why I even try! Snape hates me, and I can't write this stupid essay without my head exploding!"Harry started pacing in frustration while Hermione looked on at him sympathetically.

"It'll be alright, Harry, you know you'll do fine once you calm down. You're just too stressed today. What's been upsetting you?"

"Hello!" Ginny greeted."Mind if I sit with you?" She smiled earnestly, but noticed that Harry was glaring at her cheerfulness.She sat tentatively in the seat across from him.Of course, he wasn't sitting at the moment.

"Stupid... git..." Harry muttered as he paced."I swear, if he does one more thing..."

Hermione stood up. She put her hands on Harry's shoulders, guided him to his seat, and sat him down. He grumbled under his breath still, but at least he'd stopped pacing.

"Really, Harry, the potions assignment won't be that bad, and Snape really didn't do anything out of the ordinary today.I don't understand what could upset you so much." He just sighed and rolled his eyes at her as she continued,"Just a rough day I suppose? I'm sure he'll be fine tomorrow, don't you think, Ginny?"

Harry raised his head from where it had lain in his arms, looked at Ginny bleakly.

"I don't think I'm going to be okay for a very long time," he said before she could answer. He then packed up his books and grabbed his quill from the floor. "I'm going to the common room, I'll see you girls later." He left the library.

Hermione turned to Ginny. "He's been acting strange ever since yesterday.I don't know what's up with him." She shrugged in resignation and dipped her quill into the inkwell.

Ginny gave her a half smile, and took out her potions books and some parchment."I don't know what to tell you.I haven't been around him since the party yesterday.I know he lost a couple games of poker, but I'm guessing it's something slightly more serious."

"I don't know.I guess he'll be all right. He always pulls through in the end," Hermione smiled, then lifted a knowing eyebrow and nudged Ginny's side."So, how's Seamus?"

Ginny turned a bit pink and burst into a fit of giggles."Hermione!"Once she'd stopped laughing, she said, "Well, he's nice..."

"Is that all?Is he a good kisser? Back when Lavender was dating him she raved about him..."

Ginny gave her a look. "Oh, come on, 'Mione, Lavender would rave about any guy she was dating! Puts her in the spotlight."

"I suppose so, but..." Hermione gave Ginny a devious grin. "Is he?"

"'Mione!"She rolled her eyes, but Hermione seemed insistent for information.And after all, who else would Ginny gossip with? Ron? "I don't know,"she said, her thoughts suddenly drifting to a certain blonde Slytherin."We haven't really kissed yet."

She found herself daydreaming about what had happened in the nood, and shook it off in time to catch Hermione in mid-sentence.

"... and I wouldn't have thought it either, would you?I mean has he asked you to go with him to Hogsmeade or anything?"

"Why would Draco –" Ginny caught herself as Hermione looked at her in confusion.

"I mean, Seamus and I aren't really... well, I don't know what we are.He's obviously interested in me, but no, he hasn't asked me to Hogsmeade."

"Oh." Hermione looked slightly disappointed that there were no other details than that but then something occurred to her. "What did you say about Malfoy, Ginny?"

Ginny stuttered slightly, trying to regain her composure. "D-Draco?I didn't say anything about –"

"Oh, yes you did!" Hermione shook her finger at her. "You started to say something about Malfoy, and you called him Draco!"

Ginny nearly died of embarrassment.Sure, she could tell Hermione about Seamus, but could she really tell her that her best friend's enemy nearly kissed her?

"Well, I..."

"Just spit it out, Ginny.What happened?"

Ginny gave in and told her, recalling everything from the crash in the hallway to what happened outside the castle.

Hermione scowled. "You can't possibly be falling for this, canyou Ginny? What if he's just setting you up for something?You can't be thinking of being with Malfoy?!"

"Wait, wait! I never said that. I'm not thinking about being with him, and I know he could be trying to set me up for some evil Death Eater scheme or something.I'm not falling for anything.I'm just... wondering, that's all..."

Realization dawned on Hermione."But you did like it, didn't you... you wanted him to kiss you?"Ginny looked slightly guilty. Hermione sighed."Just be careful, Gin. Malfoy is dangerous.We don't know what he could be thinking.Stay with Seamus.He's a nice, cute, safe guy who cares about you... all right?"

Ginny nodded reluctantly. They talked for a bit more before Hermione decided to get back to the common room and asked if Ginny was still going to be in the library.

"Yeah, I've got to finish my essay for Snape still, I'll be up soon."

Hermione nodded and stood up. "I finished mine earlier today, you can use this book I found.It was quite helpful." She handed Ginny a book that was from "The Complete Squib's Guide" series. This one was called "Everything You Never Needed to Know About Tactile Potions". Ginny accepted it and waved a goodbye to her friend.

She worked hard and finished her essay just as the clock struck nine. She stifled a yawn as she headed to her dorm.Cindy, the girl from the bed to the left of hers, was talking to Linda. They were both sitting on Cindy's bed asLinda gestured wildly with her hands in between painting her nails a shocking purple.

"Yeah, he's been down all day. Lavender and Parvati think it's 'cause he likes someone.I'll bet it's Lavender... everyone loves Lavender."

Ginny hadn't been listening much before, but now her interest was peaked.They were talking about Harry! She listened closer, trying not to look too obvious by drawing on a small sketch pad.

"Yeah, from what I hear he's definitely taken with someone..." Cindy continued. "Hmm... Lavender... or Ginny!She was in love with him..."

"Oh, do you think?No... Harry wouldn't. He knows Seamus likes her. Who would it be then? It has to be Lavender!"

"Don't you remember?Lavender still likes Seamus. Why would Harry go after someone taken like that?"

'Lavender still likes Seamus?' Ginny echoed.'Seamus doesn't still like her, does he?'

"Does she still like him? I mean, it has been two months..." Cindy always seemed to know everything about everyone. Sometimes she even found out things about people they hadn't know themselves.

Ginny rolled her eyes. 'She's the Gryffindor 6th year version of Rita Skeeter, this one...'

"Of course! Don't you see the way she looks at him?You can just tell!As for Harry..."

"I... wait... oh my gosh!"Linda leaned over to whisper something in her friend's ear.

Cindy giggled. "That's brilliant! Of course... oh, she'll be ever so pleased when she finds out.I mean, she spends so much time with him that... wouldn't she have to?"

Ginny wondered who they could be talking about.Nearly every girl at Hogwarts had had a crush on Harry at some point.Ginny gave up on listening to their pointless gossip and went to brush her teeth.

When Ginny came back, the girls were still giggling and huddled on Cindy's bed.Eventually the two girls went to bed, and Ginny was allowed to attempt sleep. She thought of Harry's odd behavior, the stupid gossip, Seamus and her potions essay. Somehow, though, her thoughts drifted back to the moment she'd shared with Malfoy at the beginning of the morning.

'Stop it!' she told herself. 'Why are you even making a big deal out of this? Just forget about it. Forget about the way his lips brushed against your ear as he whispered and sent you tingling, and how his scent drove your senses wild when he hovered over you like that.Forget the warmth of having him near you, and forget anything ever happened.Nothing really happened anyway.Just don't think about the way he...'

Ginny groaned, thumping her head on her pillow. She was going to have to stop thinking so irrationally about such a slimy git. She just had to. 'Tomorrow,' she told herself, 'tomorrow I'm going to make a move with Seamus... tomorrow I'll kiss Seamus.That'll fix everything.'

Chapter Five

Earlier that same day…

When Draco woke up, he found his bedroom looking just as it had when he'd gone to bed the night before.

'That's one of the drawbacks about being a Slytherin,' he thought, rubbing his eyes and tossing his pillow to the ground. 'Even the prefects don't get windows in a dungeon.' He yawned and picked out his robes for the day.'Nothing special for today, just a Sunday.'

He plucked out an outfit typical of the weekend. A grey, V-necked shirt, black slacks held with a silver belt, and his usual cloak.He brushed a wrinkle out of his pants. 'Now that's class,' he thought as he surveyed his attire.

He brushed his hair back with his hand but it fell back into his eyes. The cut was a bit longer in the front than he'd kept it in the past.His teeth brushed and shoes on, he grabbed his watch off his bed stand and started to head for the door, but turned on his heel before he reached it, remembering something.

Grabbing for his wand, his fingers accidentally caught on a necklace on the little table, its delicate chain breaking. 'Bloody hell! At least the pendant isn't broken.' He snorted at that. 'Not that I could break it if I tried.' Draco tucked the pendant and chain safely in his pocket.

A thudding knock on the door turned Draco's attention from the charm. 'There it is,' Draco thought sarcastically as he walked to the door.'The second drawback of being a Slytherin.'

Goyle was preoccupied with a pumpkin muffin, which he ate messily. "Yes?"Draco inquired, irritated at Goyle's ever-present air of stupidity. Goyle looked down at him, confused.Goyle was able to look down at Draco in only the literal way. Draco was by no means short or small;he was a sturdy 6'1" that had filled out over the years, along with his broad shoulders.Goyle however, was just plain burly – 4" and stocky.

He was standing in the doorway, licking his fingers from his muffin and grinning stupidly. Draco pushed past him and walked toward the Great Hall for breakfast. "Move on with it, you bloody oaf!I will not be late to breakfast just because you can't get your brain to process how to walk. Now, come on!"

Goyle paused for a moment, then followed in Draco's footsteps, lugging through the hallway. 'Seriously,' Draco thought.'I don't know how he's made it this far in school being as slow as he is...' As Draco entered the Great Hall, he scanned the room, seeing the quiet, sleepy Ravenclaws moping about their tables, the Hufflepuffs as bubbly as ever, and the Gryffindors, well... Draco noticed less red hair than last year in their section, since those damned twins, Ford and Gerald or whatever their names were, had left.The unbreakable trio was together, and Ginny, or was it Jenny?No, definitely Ginny. He'd taken care to remember her name after she'd dropped her potions book on his foot early last year he thought as a grimace came on his face. She was sitting with that stuck-up prat, Seamus, and his friends. A shift from the norm, Draco noticed.

Draco, before this year, had had nothing but apathy toward Seamus.However, at the first Quidditch match of the year, Seamus' broom knocked into Draco's, just as Draco had caught sight of the snitch.Off-guard, he was hit in the arm by a bludger, nearly falling off his broomstick.Madame Pomfrey had healed most of the damage, but his left arm had been in a cast for a week.

Later, Seamus and his Gryffindor friends had teased Draco about the lost game and his injury, blaming it on carelessness. "Can't stay on your feet, Malfoy? Do you need me to carry your books for you?" they badgered. Draco held nothing but contempt for the boy now. Unfortunately he had not yet had a good opportunity to retaliate.

Mentally shrugging the thought far back into his mind, Draco sat at the Slytherin table.Around him sat Pansy, Malcolm Baddock, Crabbe, Goyle, and Millicent. Pansy had been chattering with Millicent over their pancakes and sausage until she saw him and leapt to her feet.

"Oh, Draco!Where have you been? I was so worried you might be sick! There are still pancakes on the table –" She grabbed a pancake stack and placed three on his plate."– and did you want syrup too?" She leaned over again, this time straight across Draco, her chest brushing his arms on the table. She poured him some syrup, smiling at him with what she thought must have been flirtatiousness.

Draco winced and thought, 'I swear, that rat never gives up!' But he gave her a weak smile anyway. He folded one pancake as much as he could with his fork and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.He glared at Pansy grumpily as she giggled with Millicent.'Probably about me again,' he sighed. He had no plans until his studying later that evening, and if this morning was any indication, it was going to be a boring day.

He turned to look at the Gryffindor tables.Ginny was twirling a piece of hair between her fingers, her mind obviously off in space. 'Well that's classic...Did that girl ever stay on Earth long?'He chuckled at his little stab at the Weasley, ignoring the attention it drew from Pansy.Draco turned to his pancakes as not to have Pansy catch him looking at a Gryffindor table. After all, she'd probably throw a fit or throw herself on him again.When he turned back, he saw Ginny standing beside Seamus, looking rather angry.

"You don't mean much of what you say, do you?" Ginny was looking angrily at Seamus, who looked genuinely perplexed. She probably thought she'd said it softly, but Draco would bet Seamus had heard her loud and clear.In fact, Draco probably wouldn't have heard what she said if he hadn't been looking at her just a moment before.'Not that I was looking at her,' Draco thought. He shook his head at the thought.

He watched her leave the Great Hall; Lavender was holding Seamus from going after her and she still clung to his' side after Ginny had gone. She talked to him, although Draco couldn't hear what she'd said. Finally she winked at Seamus, waved to Dean, and left for her dorm, the two braids she'd kept since she was a first year swinging behind her.Seamus started talking to Dean, and Draco lost all interest.

Crabbe and Goyle were still eating, Millicent and Pansy hadn't stopped their chattering, and that Malcolm kid was reading through a purple herbology book.Draco thought about Ginny; the way she'd helped him from under the suit of armor in the hallway days before, the comment he'd made to her about getting back at her for being in his way.

'Now's a bloody good time too,' he thought. 'She's off outside with no one rushing after her.Now's my chance.' Draco threw on his cloak and was successful in not being caught as he left the building. The morning air outside the castle was a bit colder than Draco expected, but not bitingly so. Draco performed a quick warming charm on his cloak for good measure. He looked out into the distance; Ginny wasn't in sight from where he was.She couldn't have flown anywhere, as she hadn't had a broom with her at breakfast, and she couldn't be that far from the castle, since she hadn't been that far ahead of him. He decided to circle the castle and look for her that way.

When he finally spotted her, he found her curled in a "hole" in the wall. She looked frustrated already.'This is going to be easier than I thought!Now if she'd give me an opening...' Draco was standing off to the side of the nook, where he could see her but she couldn't see him.Then he heard it.

"If Seamus didn't have the decency to..."

'Oh, this is too good... almost too easy,' he thought.

"... at least pay you for your services?" Draco had shown himself, suddenly appearing before her, his arms folded across his chest, his back leaning casually against the castle wall. She turned to look at him, made a face then stared blankly for a moment.He knew then that he would succeed in pissing her off.He smirked.

"And here I thought it was Seamus who had no decency,"she replied almost arrogantly, and he looked down at her, plotting his next move.

"What'd he do? Ignore you like everyone else does?" Draco patted himself on the back for that one. The truth always got to people the most. He'd seen Potter, her brother and Granger ignore her, and now that stupid Irish boy. 'She probably thinks he'll fall in love with her, or something stupid like that. It's obvious Seamus isn't going to stay with her... Anyway, why should I care?Can't say I didn't warn her.'

"How would you know, Malfoy? You don't know anything about me!" Ginny snapped at him. He looked at her disdainfully.It didn't take a genius to realize her situation. Draco had been taught how to control people, to convince people.To have power over a situation, you have to know about the person.

Of course he knew her. It was an automatic response for Draco to learn everything he could about people he had contact with.It wasn't his fault he'd been watching her since the incident in the hallway. He'd show her what he knew. Draco did his best to say something cutting and ruthless, something that would definitely get to her.

"I know you're a poor, good-for-nothing Weasley with that horrid hair all of you have, who obviously isn't special enough for even her brothers or her friends to notice her." His intended, and obviously more common thought after hurting someone – something along the lines of, "Take that, Weasley!" – didn't come.His mind was blank instead, and he rubbed a small part of his cloak with his thumb and forefinger, a nervous habit. He didn't think she'd seen it, but smirked arrogantly just in case she had.When she didn't say anything, he decided to prod her on.

"What? Nothing to say to that, Weasley?" He smirked a bit more. "I guess it just proves –"

She cut him off, but he didn't hear a word she said, just watching her as she yelled at him. It was then that he came upon a great idea. It was quite possibly the best idea he'd come up with in a long time.'This day may not be as boring as I thought.'He slid down next to her, wondering just how much longer she'd yell at him before she realized just how close they were.

She wasn't noticing. He sighed."Weasley, are you ever going to stop talking?"

He leaned closer to her, now hovering over her.She looked a little flustered now. 'She must have noticed,' he thought as he observed her blushing and shifting her hands awkwardly.He moved until his lips brushed her in a suggestive and tantalizing manner, speaking to her."I don't think you understand, Weasley." He slipped his mouth up to her ear and whispered,"I know you very well."

When she leaned back and closed her eyes, he knew he'd won. He moved quietly, gracefully to his feet, and was gone before she knew what hit her.

He walked quickly back into the castle and to the Slytherin common room.He sank into a black leather armchair, his arms on the sides and his feet on an ottoman.He smiled, recalling just how well the beginnings of his plan were turning out. 'Now, I'll just need more time.'He grinned at the prospect. 'I'm sure I'll be able to work something out.'

He rested in the common room, until he heard some rowdy 4th years coming his way. Entering his room, he threw his cloak onto his desk chair. He took out his potions essay, which he needed to finish for tomorrow, his quill and a bottle of expensive ink.Why keep common ink when you can have dark, deep, aristocratic ink?

He wrote for nearly an hour before he finished, signing "Draco Malfoy" at the top in a flowing scrawl. Putting his work away, he reached into his pocket for the necklace, hoping to assess the damage he'd done to the chain. He felt around for it frantically, but found only the chain. Had it been any regular necklace, or just the chain,he might have just forgotten about it. However, it was definitely not a normal pendant, and he needed to find it fast.

His mind raced. 'Where could it have gone to?' he thought as he paced through his room.'Where could it have fallen?' Suddenly his eyes filled with dread as a horrible thought occurred to him. 'When you leaned over Ginny,' a voice screamed in his mind. 'Ginny Weasley has an artifact that, if used, could create the worst situation a Malfoy has ever been in. Bloody fantastic!"

Chapter Six

Ginny started her day just like every other student in Hogwarts. Mondays were the days where the world swirled in slow motion, and Tuesday just couldn't come fast enough. Her clock buzzed at 5:30 a.m., and she knew she had to get up before its automatic sprinkler setting kicked in. Groaning, Ginny got up, took a shower and combed her hair.

Grabbing her wand, she performed a drying charm on it, making it cascade over her shoulders in an almost elegant way. Leaving the wand in her pocket, she put her hair into a braid, tying it with her customary satin ribbon. The color of it varied from day to day, and gave her something different to wear with her identical robes. Today she wore violet.

Ginny put on her standard black flats and pulled anything she could find out of yesterday's robe pockets. 'A quill, a galleon, and this...' Ginny held the pendant in her hand, looking at it. It wasn't swirling now, and wasn't it purple before? Ginny rubbed the stone, as if hoping to change its color back. Oddly, Ginny's touch did change the stone.It resumed its swirling, but remained a deep blue.Surprised, she set it down on her bed stand and went to look for a chain for it.

Unable to find a necklace chain, Ginny took the chain off Bill's old pocket watch, which he'd given Ginny when she'd left for Hogwarts last year."Don't worry, Bill," Ginny whispered to the window, as if he would hear her this way."It's only temporary.I just don't want to lose it." Attaching the chain to the belt of her robes, tucked away from sight, Ginny gathered her things and left for breakfast.

The current breakfast seating had become typical.Ginny sat with Seamus, Dean and Lavender, half listening to the conversation while buttering her toast.Ginny felt two pairs of eyes on her – Lavender's jealous and Malfoy's anxious.However, Ginny didn't want anything to do with either of them today.If Ginny was going to execute her plan, she didn't want Lavender butting in or Malfoy distracting her. Today was about Seamus.

Ginny ate breakfast as usual, and ran to catch Seamus walking with Dean on their way to their first class. She tapped Seamus on the shoulder, and he turned to face her. "Did you want to meet me after my Herbology class for lunch?" she asked. "We could eat in the common room instead of the hall."

He smiled. "Sure, we could do that. Your class ends after my Arithmancy class, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

"All right, I'll just make sure I get out on time today!" Seamus grinned at her and went back to talking with Dean about some Quidditch team.

Ginny hugged her books to her chest and nearly skipped down the hall.'Good,' she smiled.'The date's settled, and I don't really need to worry about Lavender getting in the way since he's meeting me at my class instead of me at his.'

Soon reaching the greenhouse, Ginny took her seat and reached in her bag for a quill. Finding one, she held it between her teeth while she ran her fingers through her hair and smiled in satisfaction. 'Nothing can go wrong,' she thought.

Draco didn't know what to do when Ginny left the breakfast hall this morning.He'd tried to catch her, but she'd been at the side of that Irish kid again, grinning at him like an idiot. Draco ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Draco was sure if he tried to approach her while she was with that bloke, he'd never get a word with her.

Draco looked at his watch and swore to himself. He didn't have much time left to get to Charms. Draco raced down the hallways, trying to make it to the flying staircase upstairs from the ground floor before it left.Jumping over a gap to the staircase, which would have left Draco in lots of pain if he'd missed his mark, he caught it, but still arrived late to his class.

"... and you need to accent your N's more, Mr. Zabini. Ah, Mr. Malfoy, decided to make it to my class today, have you?" Professor Flitwick tapped his wand on his hand impatiently. Draco looked down at him impassively. "Sixth time this term," Flitwick continued as he scuttled to close the door.

He summoned a piece of paper from his desk, and, with a wave of his wand, a check mark appeared next to Draco's name. The paper returned to the professor's desk. Flitwick spoke, his squeaky voice taking its most scolding tone, which wasn't really very intimidating.He did, however, look disappointed.

"I'm going to have to require another detention from you, Mr. Malfoy."Flitwick didn't like punishing people any more than Hagrid did. "Perhaps some more time helping Madam Pince will convince you to be more punctual? Should you be late again, we will have to come up with a more suitable punishment." Flitwick noticed Draco's dwindling attention."Don't you agree, Mr. Malfoy?" Flitwick looked up at Draco, his hands on his hips, frowning at him while Draco stifled a laugh. Flitwick was just so funny when he was mad.

Finally Draco shrugged, taking his seat. Taking one last look at him, Flitwick uttered a quick "See me after class," and returned to teaching.

Draco paid a bit of attention, finding this lesson particularly interesting, but mostly focused on a plan to saving himself and getting that amulet back. He didn't know Weasley's schedule, he realized. He wouldn't have even known where she would be next, today, had he not overheard her talking about Herbology earlier.

Draco realized he didn't have a game plan for how he'd be getting the amulet back.He could just ask for it, but then Ginny would ask questions.Any other way, however, might take too much time, and if she put it on... oh, Draco didn't even want to think about what could happen.When Charms ended, Draco arranged his detention, and set off to find Ginny.

Ginny glowed.She'd scored well on her Herbology exam, she hadn't been forced to sit next to Patrick, the only 6th year Gryffindor who still hadn't learned where the shower was, and she was going to meet Seamus in only a few minutes.Ginny held her books slung low in her arms, standing outside the greenhouse door.She rocked back and forth, watching in the direction Seamus would be coming.Feeling a tap on her back, Ginny turned around quickly to give Seamus a bright smile.

"Seamus!I'm so glad you –"

Ginny's voice halted quickly from its chattering pace to a dead stop. Seamus did not have silvery blond hair. Leaning against the greenhouse, Draco was at Ginny's right, one hand in his pocket, the other hidden by his cloak."I'm really glad to see you too, Weasley,"he said, smirking knowingly at her.

"Malfoy! What do you want? I'm busy. Seamus is going to meet me soon and –"

"I don't know about that, Weasley. Lavender Brown and that black guy he's always with were heading down to lunch a few minutes ago. I don't think they're planning on meeting you any time soon."

Ginny looked downcast for a moment, but her face hardened just as quickly. "Seamus is coming to meet me.He said he would. There's no reason I should trust a word you say." She crossed her arms, sat on one of the greenhouse benches, and stared determinedly at the castle entrance.

Draco sat next to her, stretching out on the bench leisurely. He tried to contain a smirk. "I'm sorry to say it, Weasley, but I really don't think he's coming."

"And just why would you be sorry if he stood me up?Don't you get some malicious pleasure out of things like this happening to people like me?"

"Sometimes.This actually is quite amusing."

Ginny left her books on the bench and stood up to face him, her hands on her hips. "You really are a prat!You're right, and I'm wrong. Is that what you want to hear, Malfoy? Would that make you happy?!"

Draco lost his smirk and looked a bit tired, a bit stern. He hunched forward, his arms laying casually over his lap, his wrists on his knees.Draco said nothing and just watched Ginny with calculating eyes. Ginny studied him for a moment, then asked, "Why are you here, Malfoy?"

"Why do you think I'm here?"

"I'm not going to play stupid games with you, Malfoy.I don't have time for this!"Ginny turned to leave but was stopped by a firm hand on her arm.She was turned by the force of his hand, ending up against his chest. She had put her hands up to push him away, but now Ginny found herself unable to move them from him. She cursed herself and looked up at him, still shocked by her reaction.

Draco tilted his head down to look at her. "Weasley..."

Ginny hoped she didn't looked as dazed as she felt, and though her mind yelled at her to push him away and storm off, her hands still rested on his shirt. Disgusted with herself, she snapped out of her reverie.

"What?" she asked, sounding obviously annoyed. She pushed her hands harshly from his chest, glaring at him. Her head tilted upwards, waiting for his response.

Draco realized he'd lose her interest rather soon if he didn't cut to the chase. "I think you have something of mine."

She looked skeptically at him, confused. Draco grinned to himself. 'She obviously didn't expect that,' he thought.

"A pendant from a necklace. It's purple.I'd like it back."

"A pendant?Is that what this is all about?" She backed away and started walking towards the castle, calling out to him, "Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy, but I don't have a purple pendant –" She reached inside her cloak and pulled out the pendant with a triumphant smile. She held it up so he could see it."– I have a blue one!"

Draco scowled. "Damn it!" He paced in front of the greenhouse. His plan was only partially succeeding, and he still didn't have the pendant.Draco had promised himself he'd keep Ginny from Seamus. That was his payback for Seamus' stunt last year. No, his plan wasn't to date Ginny, just to make her fall for him enough to dump Seamus.

Today Ginny had looked all flustered, and he'd thought he might be getting to her, but there she went, getting angry at him again.Draco wasn't going to get anywhere with her if she kept running off like that. He'd need to plan a way to see her more often if he was going to have any effect on her.

'I'm sure I'll think of something.' And then there was the issue of the pendant. She had it, and now she was probably going to keep it to spite him.Even worse, it was activated.If it had changed from purple to blue in only a day, he didn't have time to waste before it ended up white.

'I don't know how long the change would take, but I'm not ready to find out any time soon.' He had to see her again. With that thought, he went back to the castle.

Ginny stormed through the hallway.She was furious, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly why. 'That manipulative rat!' Ginny tucked the pendant back into her robes.'I can't believe I fell for something like that again! Well, he's not getting this thing back if my life depends on it! Anyone who tries to –' She searched for a word that would justify how much of an ass he was– 'seduce me into giving them something they want is not going to get it.Yes, Malfoy has definitely picked the wrong girl to coerce today.I'll bet he even sent Seamus off somewhere, and that's why he didn't come. I'll just bet...'

Suddenly, Ginny was pulled from her thoughts. "Seamus!" She ran to hug him when she spotted him in the hallway.

Seamus turned from talking to Dean and Lavender, taken off guard as Ginny threw her arms around his neck. She hadn't done this before! "Ginny?"

Ginny's eyes lighted in adoration and forgiveness. "Oh, Seamus, I was so upset when you didn't come, but I completely understand now!" She hugged his neck tightly.

"You do?" Seamus was confused and amazed.

"Yes, I do, and I know it's not your fault –"

Seamus was even more surprised. "It isn't?"

She looked up at him with the most forgiving face he'd ever seen. "No, and I'm not going to let Malfoy come between us. All right?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Malfoy?" Seamus looked almost as confused as he had during this morning's Arithmancy lesson."Ginny?" he said, hoping it might clarify her reaction.

She beamed at him, feeling a sudden surge of courage. She stood on her toes, tilted her head and kissed him.Seamus never lost his look of surprise, and he didn't even think to move his lips for the first couple seconds.

It was short, chaste, and unemotional.Seamus was happy, yet shocked. Ginny had never been the type of girl to make a move like that, nor was she normally inclined to take being stood up as well as she had. Seamus took her arms off his neck and said goodbye, walking with Dean and Lavender to his next class.

Ginny had assumed kissing Seamus would be special. Surely, it hadn't been Seamus' fault he'd stood her up, and he must have just been surprised when she kissed him. He'd shown that he liked her, so that couldn't have been why it wasn't as wonderful as she'd dreamed. Ginny sighed and walked to her next class.

Chapter Seven

People had always thought of Draco as the plotting, conniving sort. Today he planned to live up to his image.He looked at his watch and he walked leisurely to Charms. Sure, he was two minutes late, but that was part of the plan. Draco could be punctual, very punctual, if he so desired. Watching the minutes tick by on his watch, it was obvious that today he had no desire to be on time.

When Draco finally reached the door to the Charms classroom, he had wasted at least six minutes more minutes than usual getting there.He paused outside the door. Bracing his ears for the imminent assault of Flitwick's squeaky voice, he turned the knob.

Draco noticed the students in the classroom were paying little attention to Flitwick's lecture. The girls were passing notes or absentmindedly doodling hearts on their homework, and the boys stared bleakly at the clock, awaiting the end of class in a sleep-like trance. Flitwick was at the opposite end of the room from Draco, and might not have noticed his entrance were it not for Pansy, who squealed his name the second she noticed him.

Flitwick turned around, catching Draco just as he found his seat. Flitwick flicked his wand at Draco's chair."Wingardium Leviosa!"

Draco's chair rose quickly into the air, and he grabbed at the seat quickly so he wouldn't fall.Luckily, being a Seeker gave Draco impeccable reaction time.

"What do you expect me to do with you, Mr. Malfoy?I can't just let you walk in late every day as if you were on a private pass system!" Flitwick shook his hands furiously in gesture.Pansy shrieked and covered her mouth. Flitwick whirled around, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Do you have something to say Ms. Parkinson?!"

Pansy gulped and pointed at Draco. Flitwick looked up."Oh my!" he gasped. Draco was holding onto the chair by the seat, his body dangling dangerously in the air. With every wave of his hand, Flitwick was shaking Draco off the levitated chair.

Flitwick lowered the chair until Draco was able to stand on Pansy's desk, and from there jump to the floor.

"Oh, Draco! Are you alright?!" Pansy threw her arms around Draco's neck, burying her head in his neck. "I was so worried about you!"

Draco shrugged out of her arms, rolling his eyes.He grabbed his chair from the spot it still hung in the air and set it down next to his table, sitting downas Flitwick gathered his wits again.

"Mr. Malfoy, you know I'll have to have you serve a new detention in addition to the one you owe me... three days worth now, isn't it?"Flitwick nodded to himself. "Seven-o-clock, with Madam Pince in the library.Don't be late, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco made a mental note and grinned to himself.Now all he had to do was talk to Snape.

Ginny walked to Potions.The excitement and anticipation of the kiss a few days before was over, and since it was such a less-than-spectacular experience, Ginny was still feeling a bit gloomy. She shook her head. 'This is what I need to cheer me up, a nice long class with Snape.'

She pushed open the door and trudged to her seat. As she begun unpacking her things, Colin burst into the room.

"Ginny! Ginny!"

She turned her head and gave him a smile."Yeah, Colin?"

"Did you remember the crushed horn beetle for the lab today?"

Ginny slapped her hand on the table."Darn it! I knew I'd forgotten something!Snape will have my head for this! Do you have any left from last time?"

Colin searched his bag and pulled out a small glass bottle with a cork stopper, shaking it."A little, but I'm not sure how well it'll work.It's from last month."

Ginny took the bottle from Colin and held it up to the light, tilting it this way and that, looking for impurities."It looks okay, and we really have no other choice but to use it."She set the bottle on the table and pulled out the rest of their materials for the day's lab.

Professor Snape walked in front of the class slowly, with his hands folded behind his back. Reaching the front of the room, he picked up a few small glass vials filled with a dark purplish liquid. Walking around the classroom to each desk, he distributed a vial to each lab pairing, instructing as he did so.

"Each lab group is receiving a small amount of Erkling blood. You will not touch this fluid until it is to be added to the potion, and at that time, it must not remain in contact with air at any time.It will not work if it is oxygenated."He continued to explain how to add the Erkling blood while submerged in the potion as to not expose it to air and lectured for another twenty minutes on the importance of the fresh crushed horn beetle everyone was supposed to collect the night before as homework.

Ginny shot Colin a worried glance as Snape said this. Still, she decided, a little bit of possibly expired ingredient was better than the wrath of Snape. She followed the lab procedure from her manual, occasionally looking at Colin to make sure he was preparing the hydra root correctly. Finally, she finished the first portion of the lab.

Colin added the shredded root and veela hair, stirring carefully. While adding pinches and sprinkles of colourful powders from various bottles, Ginny thought of Seamus.She had been avoiding him for the past few days.'What am I going to do?I made my self look like a complete idiot by kissing him and now everyone's going to think I'm a desperate little girl again. Just when I'd gotten over Harry, just when Seamus was starting to like me, and just when I had a chance, I blew it. Now I'm in trouble…'

"You're in a great deal of trouble, Miss Weasley." Snape hovered over Ginny and Colin's cauldron.He looked disgustedly at the bubbling green mass inside it."Do you have any idea what you are doing?"

Ginny was scared and confused. "Sir, I –"

"Miss Weasley, do you know what this is?" Snape pulled an entire Hydra root out of Ginny and Colin's potion.

Ginny looked at Colin with horror."It's a Hydra root, sir."

Snape glared menacingly at her. "Did you not know, Miss Weasley, that the Hydra root must be prepared properly in order to have the desired effect in your potion?"

"I knew, sir, but –"

"And did you not read the procedure for this particular lab?"

"I read it, sir, but –"

"If you read it, you would know the Hydra root must be shredded finely before being added to your cauldron!"

Ginny gestured at Colin. "Professor Snape, I was watching him when he was shredding, and it was done properly! I don't know how that got there!" She pointed shakily at the whole Hydra root.

Snape smirked and folded his arms. "Well then, if you're so confident in his potion making skills, why don't you try it out? Have a sip, Miss Weasley."

Ginny swallowed hard. This potion, intended to be a simple beauty potion (as simple as a potion from "Dastardly Difficult Potions We All Know and Love" could possibly be) that made eyes sparkle, cheeks rosy, and hair grow long and shine healthily. Overall, it wasn't a bad thing to try. However, they had used old horned beetle, and an entire hydra root had contaminated the mixture.

Ginny lifted a vial to her face and smelled it. It reminded her of feet, dirt and sulfur.

Snape grinned. "Any time now, Miss Weasley."

With a sickened grimace, Ginny drank the potion.It tasted worse than it smelled, and soon she was bent over and coughing in the middle of the Potions classroom. She felt a tingling, then a burning in her face and eyes, and a stretching feeling in her scalp. The entire class, which had been holding their breath, suddenly gasped. Her hair had been just past her shoulders before, but was now growing past her hips, her knees, her feet. It fell out of its braids and pooled at her heels, trailing behind her like a train and shining gloriously.

Ginny didn't know what to do. The burning in her face and eyes was just starting to subside. When she lifted her head and looked at the class, they gasped in awe. She was confused by their reaction until one of the girls handed her a small mirror.Ginny looked at her face. Her brown eyes were brightly shot with blue and green and gold, and were gleaming dazzlingly. They were almost painful to look at, though oddly entrancing. She lifted a hand to her cheeks. The potion hadn't made her cheeks rosy, exactly; she looked as if she were blushing painfully.

The other girls stared in awe. "Ginny, how did you make that?" one asked.

"Can you make more for me?" asked another.

"Enough!" Snape glared at Ginny through narrowed eyes. "I've had plenty of your arrogance for one day. You will take a detention tonight and two nights thereafter for the audacious sabotage of your potion.You will not go to Madam Pomfrey to deactivate the potion, due to your disgusting smugness regarding the results."

"But Professor, when will it –" Ginny began, but was cut off.

"I said, enough! That will be all, Miss Weasley.When you have all cleaned your lab stations, class is dismissed." Snape walked to the back of the room, looking pleased with himself.

Ginny left the class and headed to her dorm. Her hair dragged on the floor behind her, and she had to keep scooping it up in her arms to avoid tripping other students. Anyone who met her eyes stared at her in amazement, and Lavender had actually asked her in the common room about purchasing some of her potion.

On her way up to her dormitory, Ginny found Hermione. The other girl stared at her in shock. "Ginny!What did you do?" Hermione touched Ginny's hair.

Ginny spoke frantically, her newly luminous eyes filling with tears. "Snape, and a beauty potion, but he cheated! And he put it in when it shouldn't have, and the Hydra root, oh Hermione!" Ginny sniffled and held the hair in her arms up. "And now my eyes glitter! And my face is so red!"

Hermione led Ginny to her room and had her explain what happened more clearly.

"So Snape put a whole hydra root and an expired crushed horn beetle in a Luxor's Looks potion?" Hermione looked as if she were calculating something in her head.

"Well, I put in the horn beetle, but yeah."

"Have you tried cutting your hair?I'm not sure it'll work if it's a higher level potion like this, but as you have about two and a half meters of hair at the moment, I think it's worth a try." Hermione picked up a sharp pair of fabric scissors from a dresser drawer.She spent the next twenty minutes cutting Ginny's hair just past the shoulder, doing her best to go straight across.

Ginny shook her head to rid her hair of stray pieces and get the feel of her cut. Hermione put her hands on her lap and looked pleased with her work. "There! It's perfectly fine... oh no."

Ginny's hair was growing back in floods, and was soon longer than it had been before it was cut.

Hermione sighed in frustration. "All right, I'll take a look in the books I have and see what they say. I have Ancient Runes early tomorrow, so I don't think I'll have time for the library."

Ginny looked hopeful. "I have a detention in the library tonight, if you have any books you wanted specifically, I could get them for you."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Could you?"She pulled out her wand."Accio parchment!" The parchment flew to her hand as she grabbed a quill and ink from her dresser. She scribbled some book titles ontothe page and handed it to Ginny, who folded it and put it in her pocket.As she did, Hermione caught sight of the watch chain inside.

"You're still carrying your brother's old pocket watch?"she asked as she begun braiding Ginny's hair.

Ginny pulled the amulet out of her pocket. "Well, the chain at least.I don't have a watch on it now."

Hermione looked at the pendant quizzically. "Where did you get this?"

Ginny would have shaken her head, but it was held still as Hermione braided her hair. "It's not a big deal, I found it outside." Ginny was determined not to speak about Draco with her just yet. "Why, is it dark magic?I know it's magical, since it changes color every once and awhile."

Hermione tilted the forest green pendant in her hand. "Changes color? No, I'm not sure if it's dark magic or not. I'll have to look that up as well. Can you add Amazingly Ancient Artifacts to your list? Because that thing's definitely old enough to be in there."

Ginny nodded slightly and Hermione continued braiding Ginny's hair. "I don't know what we're going to do with this," she said as she neared the end."It's still way too long. When do you have to leave?"

Ginny checked her watch. "About fifteen minutes. Maybe you could pin it up?"

In the end, Ginny's braid was pinned into three loops at the back of her head.It looked almost Victorian, and was pretty in an unusual way.Ginny was sure Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw in her year, would like it if she saw her before she took it down.Anyway, it would keep it out of the way, so that was all that mattered.Ginny thanked Hermione for her help and ran up to her dormitory to change.

Ginny changed out of her school robes and into a comfortable skirt and her Weasley sweater.Putting on a fresh pair of socks, she grabbed the list from her school robes and put it in her pocket.

She found the amulet from her robe pocket as well, and held it, studying it.It had a mystical, antique feel to it, and the shades of green in pendant swirled like wisps of smoke trapped in the glass.There was something about it that she couldn't quite place.It relieved her to know Hermione was researching it, as Ginny saw it change every couple days, working its way up the color spectrum. She couldn't help the feeling the colors were counting down to something...

Ginny attached the pendant to a necklace chain, laying her brother's watch chain on her bedside table, and secured it around her neck. Tucking it under her sweater, Ginny left for her detention.

Chapter Eight

When Ginny reached the library, Mrs. Pince instructed her to shelve a huge stack of dusty books. Dropping her bag next to a table, she began her task. Despite her daydreaming, Ginny was making good progress. After only ten minutes, she had just about cleared her stack of books. As she reached for the last book, however, a pile larger than her original one was dropped onto it. When she looked up, she was only mildly surprised to see who had dropped them.

"Mr. Malfoy, I should have known." Ginny sighed in exasperation and reached out to pick up the next few books from the new stack.

"Weasley?" Ginny didn't miss a beat in shelving to reply, instead muttering an apathetic "Hmm?". Draco folded his arms across his chest. "Let me just get straight to the point. You see-"

Ginny interrupted with a laugh. "It doesn’t matter where you start, Malfoy, you’ll always end the same way." Ginny spoke in matter of fact tone. "You’re an arse."

With that, she reached for the next book to shelve. Draco grabbed her arm, then thought better of it and let it go, finding his purpose more important than bickering and scaring her off again. He put up his hands in mock defense. "There’s no need for random acts of hostility. Look, Weasley, I really need that pendant back."

Ginny smirked. "Oh, really? And just what makes it so special?" Draco looked disinclined to answer that. Ginny looked at his silent form with contempt. "You’re a joke, Malfoy."

Draco’s patience was running thin. It took every fiber of his being to keep from losing his temper with her. "Look, I know we don’t get along very well, but I really need you to do this for me. As a favor?"

Ginny snorted with laughter. "What makes you think I’d be willing to do anything for you, let alone give up something I know nothing about? What if it’s Dark Magic and you just want it back so you can torture more innocent victims? I would never forgive myself if I put something like that in the wrong hands." Ginny’s arms were folded now.

"“Listen, Weasley, if it is Dark Magic, isn’t there a chance it’s already being used on you?"

She shook her head. "You wouldn’t want it back if it was. I know how much animosity there is between our families. You’d probably like to put me under spell."

Draco laughed to himself. Not this spell, you can be sure of that, Weasley. "Not hardly. If I had powerful Dark Magic, why would I waste it on you or your family when I could just push you off that book ladder or something?" Ginny secured her position on the ladder and eyed him warily. "The magic in that is not meant for you, Weasley. It’s really important I get it back."

"Unfortunately for you, Malfoy, what’s really important to you doesn’t matter to me. It’s not meant for me? I think the amulet’s chosen that for itself hasn’t it?"

Draco’s eyes widened in horror. He hadn’t even thought of that. The amulet could have chosen her. Now there was no choice. He had to get it back now, at any cost.

"What? Cat got your tongue, Malfoy? Problem?" Ginny stepped down from the ladder and faced him, smirking again.

Draco’s eyes narrowed. "I need to get the amulet back. So we’ve got to-"

"Why do you need it back? And who said anything about "we"?"

"If you don’t give it back," Draco continued, ignoring her. ""We" will have a lot more problems. That thing’s not even mine."

Ginny didn’t look surprised. "What did you do, Malfoy, take it from some poor girl on the streets? Smuggle it in from Diagon Alley?"

Draco moved toward her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "This is serious. You don’t want it. It’s…"

Ginny became a little more flustered with every inch he came closer. The arm he was touching was tingling and she couldn’t help but lean into his hand a little. The way he was looking at her was so desperate, so persuasive, that she almost gave him what he wanted.

"What do you want then, Malfoy?" she asked, trying to keep her mind on track.

He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer. "What’s best for both of us. Trust me, it’ll make us both miserable if you keep it."

Ginny, blushing, slipped out of his grasp and backed up to the bookcase. "And why is that, Malfoy? I’m not giving it up until I know what it does." She climbed the book ladder to continue shelving and looked at him pointedly. "What does it do?"

Draco climbed up after her, his eyes at her level, but standing a step lower. Ginny scooted back on her step as he came closer, eventually holding the top of the bookcase to maintain her balance. As if he were to relay an important secret message, Draco was quickly closing the gap between the two of them. Ginny became flustered and nervous in those few seconds it took for him to get to her, the feeling dizzying. When his lips brushed her ear to speak, Ginny lost it. She gripped the bookcase a little tighter to stabilize herself, but her feet slipped from the step she had been on. Ginny was sent crashing to the floor, the bookcase knocking over the ladder Draco was standing on, sending both the case and the boy toppling after her.

There was a loud thud combined with the sound of hundreds of hardcover books falling off their shelves. Draco had landed between the bookcase and Ginny, who was on the floor. It was only a split second later that they heard an ear-piercing shriek from the other end of the library.

"MISS WEASLEY! MR. MALFOY!" Mrs. Pince stormed toward them. "I have had absolutely enough of your shenanigans! You two are here on a detention, one of several days you’re to serve, if I recall. You’ve failed to even near the completion of your assignment for today’s detention and in the process wrecked my library! Both of you will be serving a week more for me, separately. I expect these books to be back where they’re supposed to be, understood?" A few wisps hair had fallen from the bun that had been at the top of her head and her glasses were askew from her anger and sudden movements. She magically lifted the bookcase off the students and turned on her heel, marching back to her desk.

"I can’t believe this. I have Quidditch practice at this time the rest of the week. Damned Mrs. Pince." Draco glared at her back as she pulled out the chair of her desk.

Ginny shifted uncomfortably. "Malfoy?"

"What?"

Ginny blushed and strained against his weight. "You’re still on top of me."

She was right. Draco was still laying where he had fallen, straight across her torso. He quickly stood upright. The pins Hermione had put in Ginny’s hair fell out when Ginny stood, flowing down her back to the floor. Draco, who had been brushing dirt off his clothing, noticed and smirked at her. He gestured at the red hair pooling at her feet.

"Does falling cause that to happen often, Rapunzel?" With all honesty, Draco had to admit she looked like a princess, if not a haphazard one.

Ginny straightened her skirt. "With what’s happened recently, nothing would surprise me," she huffed. "Another week’s detention. I haven’t had a detention in years, and now I've got eight of them."

"It won’t be as bad as you think." He bent, picking up some books and sliding them onto shelves.

Ginny laughed. "You should know. With all the time you’ve served for our teachers, you could be a house elf."

Draco scowled. "Don’t compare me to a house elf. Ever. Got that, Weasley?"

"Touchy…"

Draco growled and slid an entire armful of books onto a shelf. Ginny stopped him. "You’re supposed to put them in order! You can’t just slide them up there like that!"

Draco sighed heavily. "Yes, I can. Just wait. If you want, you can do your own couple shelves and I’ll do mine. But I’m telling you, I’ll be done long before you will." Draco thought he heard her begin to mutter things like "half ass" and "stuck up prat", but he wasn’t too sure and let it slide.

Within five minutes, Draco had finished shoving all the books onto his shelves. Taking out his wand, he spoke an incantation and the books magically resorted themselves into their correct places.

"Experience?" Ginny asked, peeved. Draco just smiled, saluted her, and walked out of the library.

Ginny spent another two hours and a half shelving her books the way she was supposed to. She cursed him for cheating and for having finished, for pestering her and for just being a prat. She was bitter and, dare she admit it, lonely. The time she spent gave her time to think and wonder, but in the end was not time wasted. She had set aside the books off Hermione’s list and a book for herself, a romance. "Heavy Heart of a Hippogriff Handler" had a character on the cover wearing leather pants and a beckoning smile. It had convinced Ginny to pick up some light reading to take her mind off things. Stuffing it in her book bag, she checked out with Mrs. Pince and went back to the Gryffindor common room.

The common room was dimly lit and quiet at this time of the evening. The Quidditch team was on the pitch, several students were working in their dorms and even most of the figures in the paintings on the wall were off visiting other parts of the castle. Ginny sighed, deciding to deliver Hermione’s books.

Walking up the stairs toward the Head Girl’s room, she wondered. What was she going to do? Her situation was stagnant with Seamus. She cared, but she didn’t; he cared, but he didn’t. She was seeing it more like the relationship of convenience it was. Really, it wasn’t even a relationship. She sighed again. The amulet was changing color every day, and she worried what it might do. What if it really was Dark Magic? She thought about taking it to Dumbledore, but she didn’t think the situation was that serious. Malfoy, however, did.

Malfoy. Ginny didn’t really know how she felt about him. There was less hatred than there had been before, but that had been mostly based on things he’d done to her brother, Harry and Hermione. Harry was still acting oddly lately, but Harry, really, was the least of her worries.

She reached the door to Hermione’s room. It had a little label on it. “Hermione Granger, Head Girl”. It looked very much like the writing on her Head Girl badge. Hermione had earned her title. She still studied twice as much as everyone else, and would probably be studying even now.

Ginny knocked at the door and walked in as usual. She was surprised at what she saw. It was normal for Harry to visit Hermione in her room, but not for them to be sitting as intimately as they were. They'd been sitting right next to each other, Harry’s hand cupping the side of Hermione’s face and her hand on his knee. Hermione looked like she was in a daze until she had realized Ginny was in the room, at which time she snapped back to reality, flew apart from Harry and assumed a look of slight panic. she tried to speak.

"Ginny, I…um, well…"

Ginny put her out of her misery. "It’s alright, I … wasn’t expected." She smiled meaningfully. "I’ll just drop by later, okay?" Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She shook her head and smiled to herself. She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, but then again, they probably weren’t sure either. However, Ginny knew what she thought she saw, and from the look of it, Harry and Hermione were going to be spending a lot more time together.

A few months ago, Ginny would have been upset with the situation. She was mostly over Harry, but seeing him with other people was always difficult for her. Seeing him with Hermione felt normal, though, and Ginny wished them well. Sure she was a little jealous, but she had Seamus. Well, sort of.

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	Books » Harry Potter » Finding Forever text size: (+) : (-)
Author: solemnpessimist 1. Books and Boys 2. Games 3. In the Nook 4. The Rumor Mill 5. Through Silver Colored Glasses 6. Improper Possession 7. Plans and Potions 8. The Library 9. Activation
R - English - Romance/Action/Adventure - Reviews: 33 - Published: 12-27-02 - Updated: 07-14-04 id:1146520

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Chapter Nine- Activation

Ginny was sick of shelving. It was her third day of detention, and she was finally finishing her stacks of books. She scowled. Draco had finished his detention hours before her because of his sorting spell, and she was missing her Quidditch practice.

She paused, a book in her hand. It hadn't been all bad, she had to admit. One good thing about Ginny’s detentions was that they gave her time to think. For the past couple days, seeing Seamus was…boring. She didn’t know quite what had happened, but everything just seemed dull around him. The two of them would sit with Dean and Lavender at mealtimes or to study, but they never had anything to talk about, and Seamus always seemed to be thinking of something else. Then again, Ginny usually let her mind wander too.

She looked at the amulet that had been tucked under her sweater. Another problem that was preoccupying her. It had changed again. Wednesday it had been a yellowish gold color, and Thursday it was a mix of orange and bronze. Now, it was red. A deep, scarlet red with bronze flecks left over from the day before.

It was almost mesmerizing to look at its swirling stone. It seemed to have more depth than was possible for a stone of its size, which made it seem all the more magical. Ginny tilted it back and forth in her hand. She had noticed over the past few days that the colors seemed to be changing in a pattern. Purple, blue, green, gold, orange, red… What worried her was that the colors had seemed to be counting down to something. She had assumed red would be the last color, but nothing had happened. Ginny looked at it again. Maybe the colors didn’t count down to anything. Maybe they just changed to be pretty. She frowned. No, Malfoy wouldn’t want it back so badly if all it did was be pretty.

So what was it?

Ginny sighed and slipped the pendant back under her sweater. She hurried to finish shelving the last couple of books before she missed more of the Quidditch practice. Placing Finding Fungi between The Herbalist’s Guide to Paprika and Horrible Maladies and How to Cure Them, she dusted off her skirt. Ginnypicked up her broom and her bag and ran to the Quidditch pitch.

Draco was worried. It had been almost a week since Ginny had started carrying around the pendant, and he knew time was running thin. Why was she being so stupid? Why couldn’t she have just returned it to him in the beginning and avoided all this trouble?

He snorted. She was a Weasley, through and through. Always getting in the way. He didn’t know how, but he had get it back or at least find out how much time he had before it would activate.

He checked his watch. He’d been sitting by the Quidditch pitch for almost an hour now. He was concealed from Ginny’s view, but he could watch her as she flew back and forth, practicing her scoring. He had also stopped by the night before at the team practice, but he had been kicked out for "spying on an opposing team". It was amazing that Draco was up before breakfast and out waiting for a Weasley to stop practicing. He yawned and checked the skies again. She was gone.

"Malfoy!"

Draco’s head snapped up and he turned around. Ginny had landed and walked up behind him. She had her hands on her hips, and her hair and Quidditch robe were in disarray.

"What are you doing here? The nerve of you, coming back to spy on my practice after being kicked out yesterday!" Ginny’s eyes gleamed fiercely.

"I’m not out to spy on your silly practice. Get a clue, Weasley," Draco countered easily. "I need the amulet back."

Ginny looked exasperated. "Again with the stupid pendant? What’s the big deal anyway? It only changes color."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her.

Hermione had been up for hours, searching the library. Ginny’s amulet problem had begun to worry her, and though she didn’t know why, the worry had only made her search more thoroughly.

She finally found something, a bit of information, in a large, dusty tome. She read it as quickly as she could, and felt her chest tighten with every word. Pointed in the right direction by several sleepy Gryffindors, Hermione ran to find Ginny.

"Fine. Whatever. Can I have it back now?"

Draco and Ginny had argued for over ten minutes. He held out his hand. Worn down, Ginny retrieved it from under her sweater. A pearly-white center glistened inside the silver setting. Pulling it over her head, she unfastened it from her chain and looked at it quizzically. It wasn’t white before, she thought. Shrugging off her concerns, Ginny held out her hand, letting the amulet slide into Draco’s.

"Ginny," Hermione shouted as she ran toward the Quidditch pitch. "Ginny!"

Ginny turned. Just slightly, Draco’s hand touched her own as Ginny let go of the amulet. In that instant, a huge flash of white blinded all vision. Hermione ran unseeing into where Ginny should have been. Her eyes recovered slowly. The amulet had fallen to the ground, and Ginny and Draco had disappeared.

Thank you so much, my readers! Reviews are encouraging and feel free to tell me what you'd like to see happen next. Updates are coming soon!

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1. Books and Boys 2. Games 3. In the Nook 4. The Rumor Mill 5. Through Silver Colored Glasses 6. Improper Possession 7. Plans and Potions 8. The Library 9. Activation

The blast from the amulet's activation was powerful enough to throw Draco and Ginny to the ground. Ginny moved her arms from her head and looked around. Her eyes widened in shock. They weren't near the Quidditch pitch anymore. In fact, it looked as if they weren't even on Hogwarts grounds. Around them were lush green grasses and flowering foliage. Towering trees blocked most of the setting sun's rays and Ginny's view of almost anything else. As far as she could see, they were in the middle of a fairly large forest. Other than that, Ginny had no idea where they were. She looked at Draco. Having gained his bearings, he had stood up. His hands were propped on his hips as he surveyed his surroundings. "Where are we?" she asked him.

Draco brushed dirt off his clothing. "I haven't a clue. This is all your fault. If you hadn't been such an idiot about giving it back before..."

"Well, if you had told me!"

"I shouldn't have needed to tell you!"

Ginny snorted. "Yeah, like I would have trusted you. You hate me, my family, my friends, Gryffindor House. You, everyone is assured, are a Deatheater. But, no, sure, I'll trust the Prince of Slytherin. As soon as You-Know-Who invites me to dinner!"

They stood in a painful silence for a long time. Ginny started to shift her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. She finally turned around. "Do you know where we are?" she asked, sighing heavily and avoiding his eyes.

Draco answered, his face impassive, "Where do you think we are?"

"I don't know, France? Honestly, Malfoy, all I know is that we're not where we're supposed to be."

Draco smirked. "You've got that last part right." He kept the amused smile on his face. In actuality, Draco didn't think the situation was very funny at all.

"Where are we, then?" Ginny asked impatiently.

Draco looked ahead. The forest had a dirt path that lead deeper into it. He couldn't tell from where they were standing how long their trek might be. "Well, Weasley, you may be content with repeating that question, but I'm going to find out."

Ginny rolled her eyes. With that, they starting walking down a path of which neither truly knew the destination.

The light through the trees was dimming, and the day was slowly coming to an end. The air became a bit cooler, and Ginny was glad she had her sweater today to keep her warm. Draco was muttering to himself and pointing his wand in different directions, trying to orientate himself. Ginny just followed him quietly. For a random place to be stuck in, it was rather pretty. Crickets chirped quietly, fireflies dotted the trees with light, and it gave her a peaceful feeling to be there. Putting her hands in her pockets, she strolled up to Draco.

"Found what you were looking for yet?" she asked innocently.

"If I'd found something, I wouldn't still be looking." Draco shook his head in annoyance and continued looking at his wand in hopes of direction.

"So what are you looking for?"

Draco ignored her and pointed his wand to the left, then the right. Frustrated with the lack of results, he shook his wand. Nothing happened. Sighing, he sat down, leaning against a tree.

"I tried a directional charm, but I got nothing. I've been trying to figure out where we could be, but geographically, I don't know."

Ginny looked confused. "But you know where we are otherwise? Er, non-geographically?"

Draco sighed again. "Unfortunately." He put away his wand and continued, "A long time ago my mother received the amulet from her father as a gift. She used the amulet when she was deciding whether to marry an old suitor of hers or not. I never asked what happened with him, but I suppose she made up her mind and married my father instead." Ginny nodded, wondering what the point of all this would be. "I think we're in Lyseria."

"Lyseria? I thought you didn't know where we were."

Draco rolled his eyes. "You've never heard of Lyseria being on a map, have you?"

Ginny thought a moment. "Well, no, but..."

"That's because it's not."

Ginny looked perplexed. "Where is it then? If we're in Lyseria but it's not anywhere you could find on a map, then where could we possibly be?" She looked at her surroundings. "Why are we here anyway?"

Draco shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not completely sure where Lyseria is supposed to be. All I know is that it does exist, and that we're here." He paused. "But I don't know why you're here."

"What? Why..."

"If you had given the damn thing back when I told you to the first time, everything would have been how it was supposed to be!"

Ginny folded her arms across her chest. "If it was so important to you, you shouldn't have been so careless with it!"

They sat in silence again. This was becoming a pattern with them, but neither seemed too eager to break that pattern. Draco started walking along the path again, this time by the light of his wand. Ginny hesitated. She didn't want to be left alone in a strange, slowly darkening place. Reluctantly, she followed. Every so often Draco would look behind him to make sure she was still following. As much as he'd like to deny it, he didn't want her lost and alone here. He knew better.

Ginny walked by the light of her wand. She could see Draco's light in the distance, but she vowed not to stay too close. Who did he think he was to treat her like that? If he had information she should know why wouldn't he just tell her? Why did he have to be so damned shady all the time? "Slytherins," Ginny sighed.

Keeping pace with Draco was fairly difficult. The path wasn't always clear, and Ginny spent more time climbing over fallen branches and debris than he did. Draco's light shone at the top of the hill Ginny was climbing. She was quickly losing ground, and soon she wouldn't see his light at all as he headed down the opposite side of the hill. Breaking into a run, Ginny tried to catch up. Unexpectedly, a large branch fell from a tree in front of her. Ginny stumbled, lost her balance, and fell to the ground.

Draco reached the top of the hill. From there he could see the end of the forest, although it was a distance away. Smiling with the accomplishment of scaling the hill, he turned to check on Ginny. Last he had seen, she had not been too far behind him. However, as he looked back to find her light, it was gone. Frowning, he started walking back down the hill. Why hadn't she been more careful? Couldn't she see she was wasting time? Draco looked more carefully for any signs of her. Earlier, he had heard her footsteps in the distance, now he heard nothing. With a sudden burst of speed, Draco ran to find her.

Chapter 10 - Camp at the Hill

Draco moved quickly, surveying the area for any signs of Ginny. He was already almost halfway down the hill, and from what he could tell, she hadn't made it up this far. Draco was concerned. The sky was becoming darker by the minute. 'If something's happened to her...' Draco fought back anxiety. He'd wanted to at least make it to the top of that hill and not be in the forest after nightfall, but it was looking more and more like that wouldn't happen.

Draco's wand lit the ground as he scanned for tracks. He had seen nothing thus far, but suddenly came across a large slide mark. Following it, Draco caught sight of a torn patch of fabric clinging to a fallen tree branch. He was sure it was Ginny's. Picking up the scrap, he looked for its owner.

Taking a few steps further down the hill, he found a large tree limb much like the first he'd seen. Peeking from under it was a tousled bunch of red hair and a scratched yet delicate hand. Lifting the tree limb from Ginny's body, he found her on her stomach, scratched and dirty. Draco grimaced a little, but tapped her shoulder. When she didn’t move, he listened for breathing and felt for a pulse.

Relieved that she was alive, but unimpressed with her response to his tapping, he knelt beside her. He bent his head to her ear and whispered, "Weasley?" He paused. "Hey, Weasley, you all right?"

When she didn't respond, Draco turned up his nose, rolled up his sleeves and picked her up. With her face nestled against his chest and her legs draped over his right arm, Draco carried Ginny up the hill.

When Ginny woke up, she was lying on a silky deep green cloak by a fire at the top of the hill. She wondered where Draco was. He'd obviously found her, or she wouldn't have been there. Before she had more time to wonder, she heard Draco from behind her.

"Seems Miss Sleepy Weasel's woken up, hmm?"

Ginny grumbled in response. Draco walked up to the fireside and dropped the armful of kindling he'd found into a pile. He turned to look at her again. "You don't look so great."

Ginny felt awful. Her whole body was scratched and scraped, and her head pounded like she'd been drinking for days on end. Draco pitied her condition but couldn't hold back a chuckle when he looked at her clothing. It wasn’t in much better shape. Her sweater was torn to shreds and her old black skirt was badly tattered.

"Malfoy!" Ginny squealed and covered herself up with his cloak.

Draco looked perplexed. "What?"

"Stop looking at me! I'm nearly naked!"

She was right. Her sweater had revealed much more when she had sat up than when she'd been lying down.

Draco smiled. "I don't know…have you ever thought of making a profession of that?"

Ginny frowned at him warily. "Of what?"

"Make a little money for your family...wouldn't have to pay for clothes..." He snickered a little, though he wouldn't have minded much if she walked around with her sweater like that.

Ginny slapped him. To Draco, it had come out of absolutely nowhere. He touched a hand to his cheek and looked at the little girl standing in front of him. Her cheeks were burning red and a scowl had come over her face. Her eyes pierced him with her anger. She spoke slowly. "Don't you ever talk to me like that again."

Draco's cheek stung. "So that's what I get for going back to rescue you, carrying you up a huge, steep hill and giving you my cloak?"

"No, that's what you get for implying things you shouldn't have." They stood in silence for a moment. Ginny's eyes seemed to soften a little. "But I'm glad you brought me up here."

Draco looked at the scratches on her arms. "What happened to you anyway?"

Ginny rubbed her aching arms and legs. "I was following you up the hill, and a tree limb fell and hit me in the chest. I fell backward and rolled down the hill with it. I don't remember much after that. Where did you find me? How did you know something happened to me?"

Draco threw some kindling into the fire. "Your light went out and I came to get you. Can't have you wandering around forests after dark. Anyway, you were under a different branch than the one that hit you in the first place, I think. You probably hit it on your way down."

Ginny wrapped herself in Draco's silky cloak and sat near him. "Thank you for helping me. For coming to get me. I really appreciate it."

Draco flipped his hair and stood up. "Yeah, forget about it, all right?" He looked around the area. "We'll stay here tonight." He pointed to the left. "There's a rivulet off that way. You can wash up a little there if you want."

Ginny figured water was probably a good idea. If she could clean her cuts and get all the dirt off, she'd probably be much more comfortable. She walked the short distance in the direction Draco had said the rivulet would be. Finding a clear area, she disrobed and touched her foot to the water. She wavered. It was very cold, but she was also very dirty. Braving the water, Ginny stepped in.

Draco spent his time adding little sticks to the fire while waiting for Ginny to come back. He slouched, breaking the little sticks into even smaller pieces before throwing them into the fire. He didn't much like the idea that he was waiting on her, let alone caring how she was feeling. To shake off his thoughts, Draco left to get more firewood. Why was she irritating him so? He used to be able to sit alone for hours without needing to move around and be with people. No, he didn't need her. People came to Draco Malfoy, not the other way around!

But in that moment, he heard it. He couldn't see her, but he could faintly hear her singing.

Draco stopped and listened to her sing. It was a sweet, slow song that pleased and relaxed him. He stepped closer to hear her more clearly. She was combing through her hair with her fingers when he finally found her. She was standing waist deep in the water, her back to him. The moonlight bathed her with an ivory glow that made her look soft despite her scratches, and her hair appeared darker than usual because of the water. In his mind, she was singing for him. Normally, if he were imagining a Weasley singing for him, that daydream would end with him laughing. But he didn't feel like laughing at all. He wanted to kiss her and touch her and nothing else would matter as long as they were there in the moonlight. He leaned closer, to watch her move in the water.

He recoiled. 'No,' he thought. He shouldn't be thinking these things. He shouldn't be watching her, listening to her. He needed to get out. He turned to head back to the camp. His pant leg caught on a bush next to him, making the whole plant rustle.

Ginny stopped singing. She turned quickly, her arm covering her breasts and opposite hand pushing the hair from her face. She looked around, and with a bit of a worried look turned to exit the water. Draco cursed, moving swiftly back to the fire and sitting next to it as if he had been the whole time. He put on a nonchalant face and took out his wand.

When Ginny came back from her bath, she found Draco sitting by the fire just as she left him. He had a charm going on his wand that left little colorful sparkles in a trail behind its tip. He was drawing circles when he saw her approaching. Putting the wand away, he looked at her. She was dripping wet, wrapped in his cloak, and it looked as if she was on the brink of tears. "Water that scary, Weasley?"

Ginny glared at him and produced her own wand from the skirt she was carrying. It had snapped in two different places. She had just noticed, and her face was filled with sorrow and desperation. She sunk to her knees next to the fire.

"There's nothing I can do, is there..." She spoke with pure lack of hope. "There's no one who can fix it..." She looked up at Draco. "...is there?" He shook his head. With resignation, Ginny tossed her broken wand into her pile of shredded clothes. Draco positioned himself on the most level ground near the fire and went to sleep.

Ginny looked at him. She didn't know why she hadn't told him she'd seen him in the bushes by the water. She could have yelled at him, but she didn't. She was more interested in what he could have been thinking watching her there, hearing her sing. She eyed him suspiciously. He didn't need to know. With an odd smile, Ginny curled into Draco's cloak and fell asleep.

When Ginny woke up the following day, Draco was gone. His cloak still wrapped around her, she sat up. A couple feet away, the remains of last night's fire stood in ashes, and light peeked through the trees above her. Nothing was left behind to show Draco had ever been there.

"That figures. He's never there when I wake up."

"Why do I need to be? Should I stay in the same place for hours while I wait for you to wake up? Just because I don't sleep ‘til noon..."

Ginny flipped around to look at him. She looked to her left and right, finally standing up in confusion. Draco's voice was close, but she couldn't find him.

Draco laughed. "Up in the trees, nitwit."

Ginny looked up. He was several feet up, on a tree branch that was right above her.

"What are you doing up there?" Ginny smirked. "Aren't your pretty little clothes going to get dirty?"

"These?" Draco laughed again. "I've got tons of these back at the castle. I'm sure you don't know what that's like, though, do you? Having more than one set of clothes?"

"And I bet you've never had anything that someone has made for you, put time and love into. A dress shop can't do that."

Draco just shrugged. Looking up, he scaled another branch, moving higher into the tree. Ginny cupped her hand over her eyes to block the sun, looking at him. "What are you doing up there anyway?"

Draco kept climbing. "Looking to see if there's anything but forest around here. So far, no." He climbed further. Ginny watched him climb, thinking about the people back home.

"Nice view, eh, Weasley?"

Ginny snapped out of her thoughts. "What?" she called up to him.

"Nice view from down there?" Draco didn't turn to look at her reaction, but searched the horizon for anything that wasn't a tree.

Ginny took the opportunity to put her tattered clothes back on under the cloak. Tucking her broken wand into her pocket, she began to walk onward, down the hill. As far as she could see, there was foliage. It seemed endless to look at, but she figured she had to start somewhere.

"Weasley!" Jumping from the tree he'd been in, Draco landed several yards behind Ginny. "Hey!"

Ginny turned. "What?"

He ran to catch up with her. "If you would have waited," he said poignantly. "I would have been able to tell you that we need to head that way." Draco pointed to their right.

Ginny looked at him curiously. "Just where are we going anyway?"

"I saw the end of the forest up ahead. Or, if you prefer, you can stay in the forest again tonight." Draco turned to walk in the direction he had pointed to. Ginny followed him at his side.

They walked for an hour before Draco got the courage to talk to her. The trouble with talking to Ginny was that he was worried she wouldn't want to talk with him. Not like a human being at least. He didn't want to talk about Voldemort and Slytherin and those horrible brothers of hers. He wanted to know what she was passionate about, her fears, her ideas on the upcoming election for Ministry positions, anything.

"So, your family's pretty poor, huh?" Those had been the first words out of his mouth in an hour, and Draco nearly hit himself for saying them. All his good intentions had been shot with one question.

Ginny looked at him bitterly, but she sensed that he hadn't meant his words as they had come out. "Things have gotten better since Charlie and Bill have gotten married and Fred and George have moved out." She paused to see if he was paying any attention to her words. It looked as if he was, so she went on. "Percy's in the ministry administrative offices now." Ginny laughed as she spoke. "He's hoping to become advisor to the Minister, but honestly, I can't imagine Percy advising anyone."

Draco smiled a little. He couldn't imagine Percy as fit for anything but a chimney sweep, but, for once, he kept his mouth shut.

Ginny continued, "Mum hasn't had as many kids around the house to cook for and keep an eye on. I think it makes her a little sad that we're growing up. I mean, I'm the baby of the family, and I'm not really a baby anymore." Draco looked her up and down. She had that right. "But it does help finances. Not nearly as many people in the house as there used to be. She still sends all of us care packages though. Fudge, clothes and anything else she happened to pick up that we could need. Teapots, broom polishing kits..."

Man, that girl can talk, Draco thought. He smiled, though. She was talking to him, and normally, like any friend she'd talk to. He wondered if she knew that her eyes sparkle when she talks about her family.

"...she even sent me a sewing kit every term until I insisted I didn't need any more." She paused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Draco caught himself. "Looking at you like what?"

A few wisps of hair fell into his stern, confused eyes as he'd asked his question. Ginny studied his face a moment. She could only compare the expression to how she felt when she saw a flower she hadn't seen before. Softened, but thoughtful. Ginny found it curious that he even had an expression like that. Maybe it hadn't even existed, it happened so quickly, but it was enough to make Ginny pay more attention from that moment on.

"Never mind," she said. Suddenly, she stopped walking. Looking ahead, she could see the end of the forest and a small town beyond that. She told Draco, the excitement apparent in her voice, "We can eat! It's been so long since I've eaten a real meal. C'mon, let's go!"

Draco nearly laughed at how ridiculous she sounded, but then again, he was pretty hungry too. He followed her as she ran toward the sunshine at the end of the forest.

When they reached the clearing, Ginny was running low on energy. She had only eaten berries since she left Hogwarts, and she'd just run about two and a half miles. She sat on the grass, finally laying down, resting her head on her arms. When Draco caught up with her, he was gasping. He stopped and bent over, his hands on his knees, while he caught his breath.

Ginny giggled. "For a Quidditch star, you sure run out of breath quickly!"

Draco glared at her. "I direct a broom. I don't do long distance running."

"Touchy..."

Draco glared again at her response. "Where the hell do you get all that energy from, anyway?"

Ginny grinned. "Years of running after and away from six brothers."

Draco's head hurt at the thought. "There's no way I could handle that many Weasleys. Or brothers for that matter."

Ginny stood up and started walking toward town. "Handle seven Weasleys?" She looked back over her shoulder at him and grinned. "You can't even handle one."

Draco straightened and planned to retort, but he didn't have time. Ginny had started running toward town.

"Bloody hell, not again." Draco took a deep breath and ran after her.

Ginny slowed down pretty quickly. She had reached a stone pathway and was following it to town when Draco caught up. He stopped her by the shoulder, breathing heavily and pointing his index finger at her.

"Now you listen, Weasley. You have to stop running off like that. I'm the only protection you've got here. We don't know what this town is like. And besides…" He looked at her clothes from under his cloak she was still wearing. "I do have the right to ask for my cloak back."

Ginny blushed a little. He was right, he was her only protection here. She looked at the town. It seemed respectable enough, but… She abided by his request.

Draco and Ginny walked along the path until they saw the first signs of town. A weathered building stood on the corner of the first crossroads they came to. Ginny was delighted, since it was the first one she had seen in days. Its old brick walls were covered in ivy, and a carved wooden post swung from a post hanging above the door.

When they entered The Wooden Duck, the grayed barman motioned Draco and Ginny to the bar. "Mr. Malfoy," the old man said with a twinkle in his eye, "good to finally meet you." Draco nodded in acknowledgement. The barman smiled. "Your father never said you'd be bringing a lady..." Ginny couldn't help her smile when the man kissed her hand. "Drink for the lady?"

Ginny gladly accepted the drink as well as a helping of fish and chips. Draco joined her, taking the stool next to her at the bar. When they finished their food and drink, Ginny went outside to have a look around while Draco paid the tab with the money that had been in his pocket. He was about to leave his seat when the barman called to him.

"Mr. Malfoy..." The bearded man handed Draco an envelope with a green seal holding it shut. "...your father left this for you. Oh, and..." Draco turned, his hand resting on the wooden door. "...she's a good girl."

Draco nodded and left to catch up with Ginny.

Chapter 13 - The Bird and the Bet

As Draco walked outside, he opened the sealed envelope. In it, he found a fancy piece of parchment, as well as a great deal of money. Draco opened the letter.

Son,

Congratulations on your graduation! Your father and I are so proud of you. I hope things have gone as planned with your end of the year testing. I know your father is set on your helping his business in Belgium, but if you can find something better for you here, you'll be a lot happier. I enclosed some money to help your travels. As I told you when I gave you my amulet, it's your turn to find your future. Good luck!

Mother

PS: If your father asks you, this letter is reminding you of your obligations. That's what I told him when I had him drop it off at the Wooden Duck for me.

Draco folded the letter into his pocket and dropped the money in a pouch. After looking around, he found Ginny sitting on a white iron park bench just outside the tavern. She hadn't seemed to notice that Draco had left the tavern yet. Ginny seemed to be studying a little grey bird in the street. Draco walked up behind her. "Is this what you always–"

Ginny put her hand over his mouth, shushing him. "Watch it," she whispered. She stared at the bird until it looked her in the eyes. It was an odd bird, its eyes holding much more knowledge than a normal wildlife creature's would. Cocking its head to the side, it seemed to be studying Ginny as well. Unlike any undomesticated bird Draco had ever seen, the little bird was getting closer, walking instead of flying toward Ginny. It was then that Draco noticed its blue underside...

He knew what it was! Draco remembered hearing about this from Hagrid. Although he hated to admit he'd ever learned anything from that oaf, he did remember this. That little bird could turn her into a pile of dust. The bird would challenge her and if she failed...dust. Draco's thoughts raced through his head. Didn't she know? If she did know why would she take the risk? Then Draco thought about the worst that could happen. She'd turn to dust, he'd be on his own, no more Ginny. No more silly laughter and running to catch up. Yes, that would be lovely. Draco crossed his arms, walked a couple paces backward and watched.

The bird was only a couple feet from Ginny and coming closer. Draco's thoughts whirred through his head again. No more Ginny. Yes, on his own. Mhm. The bird was only a foot away. Suddenly, Draco changed his mind. No more Ginny. He'd be on his own with no more silly laughter or running after her. As much as he hated thinking it, he couldn't bear the thought of being here on by himself.

The bird took flight to land on her hand. Draco couldn't let this happen. "Ginny!" Draco shouted as he dove at her, pushing her from the bench to the ground. Ginny had let out a surprised shout as Draco's body toppled onto hers. The two of them landed on the stone pathway with a thud.

Any normal bird would have flown away in that commotion, but the little grey bird perched on the back of the iron bench. Draco looked up at it. It smiled, catching Draco off guard. As far as he knew, birds didn't smile, but at this point, nothing would really surprise him. In a deep female voice that seemed rather familiar, the little bird spoke to Draco. "Smart boy."

Winking at Draco, the bird flew a couple feet into the air before exploding into a shower of silver sparkles. Ginny gasped as the sparkles fell into her hair and coated Draco's back. It had been a Periclitari. She hadn't recognized it, but she saw it now. It had challenged her, but Draco had taken the challenge for her. Not only had he not let her turn to dust, he'd taken the risk himself for her.

Draco was propped up by his arms on either side of her, looking at where the bird had been sitting. When he looked back at her, Ginny felt a spark shoot through her body. When he had shouted for her... He called me Ginny...

"Are you okay?" Draco asked her.

Flustered, Ginny nodded furiously.

When they stood up, Draco noticed a necklace on the bench where the bird had been. It was a delicate, silver necklace with diamond and crystal pendants hanging in a triangular shape from its circular chain. They both gasped – Ginny because it was so beautiful, but Draco because he knew this necklace. Attached to its chain was a little parchment note. He picked it up. It read, simply, "Your turn." Quickly, he shoved it into his pocket before Ginny could read it. Ginny looked perplexed, but followed Draco as he directed her attention away from the necklace and toward a nearby dress shop.

The shop was clean and white walled, with a comfortable sitting area as well as racks upon racks of clothing. Draco had his hands on his hips inspecting the shop. "This'll have to do," he said, taking a few steps into the store. Draco noticed he was several steps ahead of Ginny because she was still standing in the doorway in shock. "Problem?" he asked her, grabbing her hand and leading her to a nearby rack.

"What are we doing in here?" Ginny asked as she was pulled toward a rack filled with lots of expensive dresses.

Draco didn't answer at first, but inspected a sunshine yellow dress with a flowing skirt before throwing it over his arm. "I'm finding you some clothing. Unless you'd rather wear your shreds of an awful sweater and skirt. Besides," he said looking her up and down, "I want my cloak back."

Ginny followed Draco as he picked up increasingly gorgeous dresses. She tried not to look at price tags, feeling everything here must cost nearly as much as her family spent on her in a year. However, with each dress Draco picked up, Ginny fell more into the shopping spirit. Occasionally, he'd hold a dress up to Ginny to judge if he liked it or not, then throw it over his arm.

Laying the dresses over a dressing room door, Draco gestured for Ginny to go inside. "Go try those on. I'll wait here." Draco went to sit on a couch near the dressing area. Ginny went into the little room and locked the door. Holding up the first dress, the yellow one, she unzipped the back. Stepping into it, she noticed how silky it was. Zipping it up, Ginny walked out to show Draco.

The dress had almost off the shoulder, flowing yellow sleeves and a curved V neck that complemented her collarbone nicely. It just barely clung at her waist, flowing into a loose skirt, which Draco thought suited her as well. He smiled to himself. She could still run in that one. He walked up behind her and adjusted the back, then let down her hair. Walking back, he took a final look.

Ginny tilted her head and smiled. "So?" She twirled, and the skirt spun around her.

Draco nodded. "Good. Try the next one."

He soon didn't like the fact that every dress Ginny tried made her look more beautiful than the last. The purple dress with the spaghetti straps was nice, the red one was nicer, but the green one made him want to touch her, hold her.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked him. She wore an emerald green silk dress with bell sleeves and a silver scooped collar. He marveled at her. She looked amazing in Slytherin colors... He’d always thought Ginny to be pretty, but out of those baggy sweaters she could have been the cover girl for Witch Weekly.

"Mhm. Yeah. Okay. We can go now." He turned quickly, threw a pile of clothing over his arm and motioned Ginny to the check-out counter. After paying for a robe and four dresses, Draco and Ginny left the dress shop.

The streets were becoming more vacant as night overcame the town. A couple blocks from the dress shop stood an inn with a black shingled roof and dark blue shutters. An old woman with sparkling eyes sat at the counter inside, knitting white woolen socks. She smiled when her visitors approached the desk. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Draco grabbed his money pouch. "How much will a double room be?"

The old woman looked hospitably at the two young people. "A double room?"

Draco wrinkled his brow. "Yes, a room with two beds in it?"

"Oh," the woman said, "we've already reserved our family room for the Mullins family. They're a family of six, you know." The lady went back to knitting her socks.

Draco looked a little irritable. "What do you have open then?"

In the end, Draco and Ginny ended up with room 16 on the second floor. It had a dresser, a queen sized bed, a couch, a cooler and a small rack of wizarding magazines in the main room. To the right of the front door there was a bathroom with a shower, and a closet opened on the left-hand side. Draco pulled some butterbeer out of the cooler and handed one to Ginny. Sitting on the couch, the two of them each took a magazine from the rack and started to read.

Ginny's vision began to blur the words on the pages. It was nearly two hours past her usual bedtime, and Ginny was tired. Yawning and standing up, she told Draco she was going to bed. He agreed, and by the time Ginny came back form washing her face, he was under the covers in the bed.

Ginny worked on braiding her hair for bed. "What do you think you're doing?"

Draco fluffed the pillow under him and smirked. "Going to bed."

"Not there, you're not."

"Oh really?" Draco put his hands behind his head. "Why not? I paid for this room, I should have a right to take the bed."

Ginny sulked a little. Finishing her hair and grabbing a pillow from the bed, she headed for the couch.

"You know, you could just sleep next to me."

She noticed he was shirtless as he sat up in bed. She continued to prepare her bed. "I don't think so." She threw herself onto the couch. The force of her jump knocked the piece of furniture backward. Standing up and tipping the couch back to a standing position, Ginny began to reassemble her bed.

"You know what." He stood up. "I'll offer you a deal."

Ginny turned, putting the pillow case back on her pillow. "What?"

"If I kiss you and you feel nothing, you can have the bed and I'll take the couch. But if you do feel something between us, you share the bed with me."

Ginny blinked in shock. Then she narrowed her eyes. He was joking. He had to be. She was about to open her mouth to reject his proposal when she noticed he was already moving closer.

Everything seemed to happen at once. Draco's arm held her around her waist and his body pressed against hers. Her chest was so close against his, she knew he could feel how fast her heart was beating, and his rich scent filled her. For a moment, her head had been lying against his shoulder, until he cupped her face with his hand, moving it upward.

From under her fringe of eyelashes, she looked up at him. There was a look in his eyes she'd never seen, a steady, strong, longing sort of look that made her melt inside. It was then that his lips pressed against hers. It was more gentle than she would've thought him capable of. A strong electric feeling moved through Ginny's body, from her fingertips to her toes. She had never felt anything as strongly as she did that moment. Not with Seamus, not with Dean, nor for Harry. The world, in that moment, was Draco.

Ginny melted into the kiss. Her fingers went through his hair and her other arm folded around his neck. All the while, Draco held her cheek, cradling her through the greatest kiss she'd ever had. He pulled her closer, savoring the feeling of his lips against hers, his body against hers. Finally, slowly, he pulled away. "So?"

Ginny was still dizzy. She didn't know how to respond. "Nothing," was the first thing out of her mouth.

Draco looked into her eyes. She looked as if she were longing to be kissed again, to be held and caressed. He knew she had felt the connection he had. The way she had responded to him...but she had said no. She said she didn't feel anything. Even if that wasn't true, she still wouldn't let him win the bet. "Okay," he said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. He picked up his pillow, threw a blanket on the couch and followed it himself.

Draco listened to her breathing until he was sure she was asleep. Looking at her one last time for the night, he whispered to her, so softly that had she been awake she might not have heard it. "Goodnight, Ginny."

*Periclitari - Latin [to try, make a trial, to test, to prove, venture; to take a risk, be in danger]

Draco was in his bedroom. His mother had set up the morning's tea and had just called him into the sunroom. Throwing on a shirt and slacks, Draco headed to join her. The room was exquisite, as were all other rooms in the Malfoy castle. In winter, as it was now, it seemed especially bright, the sun's rays reflecting off the snow.

Draco's mother sat at a carved wooden table near a window on the east wall, pouring tea into a decorative china cup. When she noticed Draco enter the room, she tilted her head up to look at him, giving him a glimpse of a silver necklace she wore. She gave him a half smile. Draco didn't need to be told to sit at the table, he'd done this every Thursday morning during the holidays since turning six. Father left on Thursdays for business meetings, and since he was gone and Draco wasn't at school, Narcissa took that time to talk to her son.

"Did you sleep well, my dear?" Draco nodded. Narcissa filled his cup with tea. "I know this school year has been difficult for you so far, Draco, but you know that your future does depend on your choices this year." Draco had heard this before. He nodded in acknowledgement. "I know your father has spoken with you about your obligations to the family many times, but I want you to know that your future is yours, not his."

Draco tried not to show the surprise that he felt when she said it, but it was impossible. His parents had been planning to make him partner in his father's company by marrying Pansy Parkinson. The idea revolted him. If Draco married Pansy, Mr. Parkinson would give him the half of Lucius' company that he owned. Draco's father's dream was to run the whole company within the family and figured Pansy was just a bonus that Draco would get out of the deal.

Narcissa sipped at her tea and asked him something neither of his parents had ever bothered to ask him. "Do you want to marry the Parkinson girl?"

Draco looked up at her. "I don't. She's one of the last people on the planet–"

Narcissa put her hand up to shush him and stood up to call a house-elf to the room. A small elf appeared in the doorway. "Yes, Madam, may Dippy help you?" Narcissa instructed Dippy to tell her if Mr. Malfoy arrived home early. Dippy complied and exited the room. Narcissa locked the door before she returned to her tea.

"She's an awful girl and no choice for a son of mine. Draco, I know you aren't fit for a life in offices and dark work." She pulled a velvet pouch from her pocket and placed it on the table. "Many years ago my mother gave this to me to help me decide whether or not to marry your father."

Draco pulled an amulet out of the pouch and looked at it as she continued.

"I loved a man I had met in school, but your father had an interest in me. Before I used the amulet, I had no intention of marrying him. After, I realized marrying Lucius was more important. Once I used it, I saw you. I saw the great things that could come from a son by Lucius. That's why I know you have a future, Draco. If I had seen a son that would sit in an office doing his father's work, it wouldn't have been worth it."

Draco looked up at her. He knew she meant what she said and had been waiting for this day for a long time. "I want you to take it, Draco. I want you to find what it is that will make you happy. Whether your father is upset or not, I'll help you. You'll know I'm there." She smiled as Draco put the amulet into his pocket.

A frantic knocking at the door broke the silence of the moment. "Mrs. Malfoy! Madam!" Draco's mother unlocked and opened the door for the house-elf. "The Mr. Malfoy has arrived!"

Narcissa thanked him and turned to Draco. "Use it at graduation. The stone will go up the color scale; when it turns white, it'll activate. What you find there will be the best path for your future. It brought me the best thing in my life..." She touched his hand reverently, remembering the little boy he once was and realizing this may be the last time she would see her son. Mrs. Malfoy walked to the door. "It's your turn."

It repeated in Draco's mind as he woke up. "It's your turn...your turn..." He sat up on the couch. He frantically searched his pockets until his fingers caught on something metallic. Pulling out the necklace, Draco flipped the simple tag over and read the inscription. "Your turn." His mind flashed back to the moment when he'd first entered the sunroom those months ago. It was the same necklace she had worn. Draco looked at the necklace, then to Ginny who was still sleeping, then back to the necklace. He decided not the think about it. Tucking it into his pocket, he stood up, picked up a towel and headed to the shower.

Ginny's dreams were different from any she'd ever had. Draco was playing with her hair, braiding it for her before bed. With his arm around her waist, he pulled her back onto his chest, and she inhaled his scent as her head rested on his chest. She turned and put her arms around his neck as he...

Draco walked out of his shower with a towel around his waist. Ginny was curled on the bed, clutching a pillow and sighing happily. Draco wondered what she could be dreaming about. Whatever it was, she sure looked cute.

Draco smiled at her as his hair fell into his eyes. He stroked her arms and cuddled her...

Ginny was smiling in her sleep. Draco sat next to her on the bed. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to feel like he had yesterday.

Ginny loved the feel of his skin and the strength of his arms. Draco moved his hand down the curve in her waist. "Merlin, you're beautiful..." Draco smiled at her. Ginny blushed as his hand moved around her waist. He was going to kiss her, she knew it. Ginny relaxed and waited.

Draco didn't know if it was wrong to kiss a girl while she was sleeping. He decided to fight his feelings and go get dressed.

As he was about to get up, Ginny wrapped her arms around him. Pulling his head toward hers, she kissed him.

Draco was so surprised that he didn't move at all at first. After a moment, he melted into the kiss. Nobody had ever made him feel the way he felt when he was kissing her.

His kiss intoxicated her. She couldn't help it. She wanted... Draco moved his lips down her throat to her collarbone and across her shoulders. She whimpered a little, and her eyes fluttered open.

Ginny screamed, hitting wildly and throwing Draco off the bed as she sat up. His towel nearly fell off from around his waist as he was propelled to the ground. His jaw hurt from where she'd punched him, and the pure shock of it all had his chest hurting.

Ginny yelled, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Draco stumbled up, his hand rubbing his jaw. "What do I think I'm doing? You were the one who kissed me! Damn it, Weasley..."

She puffed her chest out and put her hands on her hips. "I did no such thing!"

He snorted. "You sure about that?"

She opened her mouth to retort, then thought about it a moment. She remembered the dream and the feel of him near her. Come to think of it...

He hadn't waited for her to respond, but picked up his clothes and left for the bathroom to change. Ginny waited until he was done, then took a shower herself. Brushing her hair as she finished, she walked into the main room to find Draco still rubbing his jaw.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

He sighed, and with a sincerity Ginny hadn't expected, said he'd be fine. They eventually found their way downstairs to the main lobby where the innkeeper's wife had set up coffee and bagels. Ginny sat at a wooden table near the window with her coffee and waited for Draco to get his breakfast. When he sat across from her, she gave him a half smile and poured him some coffee. There was familiarity in this that Draco found comforting, and he nodded to her when his cup was full enough.

Ginny looked out the window. "I wonder what everyone at home is doing." She looked at her watch. "Classes would have started by now. I hope they don't hold us accountable for our schoolwork when we come back." She paused. "Well, I bet Snape will."

Draco shook his head. "He's not that bad. He gets all his test questions from 'Pretty Peculiar Potions and their Perfectly Preposterous Procedures.' As long as you've got a copy, you've got it made."

Ginny laughed and stirred some sugar into her coffee. "Thanks." She looked out the window again. "How are we ever going to get back to Hogwarts?"

Draco had no idea. The only thing he knew was that he hadn't found what he was looking for in this place just yet. He had a feeling the only way they'd ever leave would be if he found what he came for. "I don't know yet. I think we'll know when it comes."

They finished their meal, then headed up to their room. They decided to pack up their clothing and head out for the day. When Ginny reached for her robe, she noticed an ornately decorated golden key lying on top of it.

"Malfoy?" she called.

"What?"

Ginny held up the key. "Is this yours?"

Draco walked closer. "No, don't you think you would have noticed it? Then again, you are a Weasley."

Her eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He smirked. "If you don't know where this came from, and neither do I, why don't we just leave it here?"

"Fine." She placed the key back on the dresser and joined him at the door. He tried the handle, but found the door was locked.

"Did you lock this?"

"No... house-elves?"

He looked at the messy state of the room and seriously doubted house-elves had been there today.

Ginny looked at the key on the dresser. "Do you think it's a different room key than the one we got when we took the room?"

"People normally don't give room keys that look like that." Draco picked up the key from the dresser. On one side it had a deep red stone, while the other bore a small engraving of the number sixteen. "Sixteen?"

Ginny looked at the engraving. "We're room sixteen aren't we? We could try the key."

"We could." They looked at each other. They were being silly. Obviously, this key was no big deal. Draco took the key and turned the lock. The door swung open.

The hallway had vanished.

Chapter 15 -The Room with Eight Doors

Before Draco and Ginny was an octagonal, dimly lit room. On each wall was a door with an ornate golden handle and a lantern.

Draco stepped into the scarlet carpeted room, followed by Ginny. Looking behind her, she saw that she could still go to the room at the inn, but there was no other way out than through one of these doors. Draco picked up a plain parchment tag on the door they had just come through. It read, simply, "The Blue Shutter Inn".

"Do you have any idea what all this is about?" Ginny whispered.

Draco looked around. Bordering the ceiling across the whole room was an inscription. It may surprise you, what you see, but what you choose is who you'll be.

The moment Ginny finished reading the words they lit up. Each door now looked different. To the left of the door to the inn were three doors labeled "Excitement," "Fame" and "Love". To the right, doors were labeled in a similar fashion, reading, "Security," "Power" and "Independence". Directly across from the door to "The Blue Shutter Inn" was a plain door labeled "Stairway."

Ginny looked more concerned than before. "Alright, now, in case you didn't hear me before." she looked Draco directly in the eye. "Do you have any idea what this is about?"

Ginny sighed. "So you were supposed to come here to find the best path for your future, and somehow I got caught here, too?"

Draco eyed her. "Somehow?”

Ginny shrugged it off. "So, anyway, the only way out of this whole place is to find what you came for." She thought a moment, repeating the inscription from the wall in her mind. "'What you choose is who you'll be.' I think you have to go into those rooms and decide what you want. That's all that makes sense."

Draco stood up and walked to the door. He paused. "You coming?"

Ginny tilted her head to the side, wondering how she was getting involved in this. Draco motioned Ginny to the door. Thinking of nothing better to do, she followed.

Draco stood in the middle of the room. He was to choose between six rooms: Power, Fame, Independence, Security, Love and Excitement.

Ginny's voice came from behind him. "Do you think you might get to just try things out now and choose later, or is this decision really it, that you're held to it?"

Draco looked over all the rooms again. A couple stood out to him, one a bit more than the others. He ignored that room and walked up to the one labeled "Power". He looked back to Ginny who smiled at him reassuringly.

He entered the room.

"White?" he spoke to himself, his voice echoing through the room. In fact, the room was so blindingly white that Draco couldn't tell where the floor ended and the walls began. He wondered if he had made the wrong choice. Or, maybe this was all there was. He was turning to walk back out the door when he heard his own voice.

"Coming!" Draco turned and noticed the room wasn't white any longer. He saw himself sitting in a velvet chair with a curved wooden back. He wore an expensive, heavy red robe and was currently bent over putting on his shoes. A nasal, female voice shouted from another room. The Draco in the chair scowled. "Bloody hell, woman, I'm coming!" Standing up, he exited the room.

Looking around, Draco found himself alone in the room. It was a bedroom with elegant furniture and silk drappings on a four poster bed. Draco walked up to the dresser. He recognized some of his things: a watch he had in his trunk at Hogwarts, the cologne he usually wore and one of his hair combs. He also noticed some things that definitely were not his: a heavy gold necklace, a huge bottle of a strong perfume and a bottle of hot pink nail polish.

From the hallway, he could hear the woman speak. "...Did you like your dinner, Drakkie? I put the wine in the glasses myself."

"Mhm, impressive."

Draco moved into the room. He watched himself get up from his chair and get out his wand. Pansy looked disappointed.

"Drakkie!" she moaned. "You're not going to work again are you? Ever since Daddy gave you his share of the company, you're never home! You're always going to work."

Draco shook his head to himself. Work with his father wasn't pleasant, but it was better than being at home. "I'll be back later." He apparated.

In the octagonal room, Ginny had just watched Draco enter one of the labeled rooms. She wondered what she was to do while he was gone. She could wait. Ginny looked at the daylight though the window. But how long would he be? She could try one of the rooms. They may not even open for her, but it was worth a try, wasn't it? She looked at the rooms again. She walked up to "Security" and opened the door.

Draco saw himself in an office. A huge office. Windows spanned the entire northern wall and a navy carpet covered a space almost as large as the potions lab at Hogwarts. A rare, well-taken-care-of owl sat on a perch by an open window, and a large wooden desk stood against the adjacent wall.

Draco was sitting in a fancy black leather chair, sorting through the stacks of papers on his desk. His secretary walked into the room, She was a leggy, conservatively dressed redhead with a clipboard full of memos from his father. Draco was a bit disturbed by the scene. She looked a little too much like Ginny. He hoped her working for him had nothing to do with the resemblance. He didn't take too well to the thought of being hung up on a girl like Ginny for years while married to someone else. At the desk, Draco filled out paperwork and sent several notes via owl to various branches of the company. It was pretty boring to watch until there was a knock at the door.

Lucius dropped a foot high stack of papers onto Draco's desk. "You need to get these files owled to McPherison just before tomorrow night's meeting. He's been getting too comfortable around here. Remind him that you're superior to him."

"Yes, father."

"And you know Connely's branch needs to be inspected and supervised. Fire the incompetent. I need that branch in top shape before I start sending out our more classified information."

"I know, father. I'll handle it."

Lucius bore a satisfied smile. "So when am I getting a grandson, Draco? It's been a year. You and I won't live forever. We need another strong Malfoy to hand this enterprise down to."

Draco's eyes grew downcast. Both Lucius and Pansy were pressuring him into a son. Draco prayed that Pansy would not bear a child. He refused to see his son forced into the company, forced through life as he had been. A daughter wouldn't be any better. She'd be rejected by his family because she couldn't be the boy Lucius wanted. "I know, father." Draco wanted him to leave. "I need to get to work on getting these files out."

Lucius eyed him suspiciously. "I don't want any trouble from you, Draco."

Draco nodded, and his father left the room.

At the desk, Draco slouched into his chair. He was frustrated. His father had forced him into all of this. He picked up a picture of Pansy. She was powdering her nose and flashing him a toothy smile in the photo. Draco slipped the picture from the frame to reveal the one beneath it. It was a picture of Ginny. She was sitting in an arm chair in the Gryffindor common room. She had her feet up on the chair, propping up a book and some parchment. The majority of the time she spent writing, but occasionally she'd look up and smile at the camera. He had been trapped into this life, and now she was out of it.

Draco watched himself stare at the picture. He had to get out of this room. "Out! Enough!" he shouted. The man at the desk failed to notice him, but slowly the room faded into white. Draco found the door and left.

Ginny's room was white, as completely white as Draco's had been. Ginny took a couple of hesitant steps forward as the scene unfolded around her. Ginny gasped when she saw herself standing in front of her. She was cooking, her hair piled atop her head in a messy bun and an apron around her waist. Two young boys ran into the orange and yellow kitchen. One was pudgy, around the age of two, and the other looked as Percy had at the age of three. Ginny smiled at them and gave them juice. A voice came from the other room.

"Ginnybean, is dinner ready yet?"

Ginny watched herself stir the contents of a pot on the stove. "Ten minutes," she called back.

Watching the scene, Ginny had recognized the man's voice. She followed it into the other room. Neville sat reading the Daily Prophet in the den. He wore moderately priced grey robes and circular glasses which he adjusted occasionally. He still wore his ID badge from the accounting job he had just taken at the Malfoy's corporation. Ginny had protested his working there, but the job had been available and they had two boys at home.

Ginny looked around the room. There was a fireplace in the center of the room, a brown couch, and a matching brown easy-chair that Neville was sitting in. Atop the mantle was an array of pictures. There was one Ginny and Neville with the two boys, one of her, Neville, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Luna, and one of just her and Neville.

Something about the engagement photo of her and Neville seemed odd. She picked it up. Neville had his usual clumsy smile as he looked to Ginny in admiration. Ginny looked quite different. Her face looked tired and her smile a little forced. She looked down at her engagement ring, then straight at Ginny, sighing. Almost as quickly as the moment had come, it faded. Ginny looked back to Neville and resumed her smile.

In the dining room, Ginny had put chicken and pasta on the table and called her family to dinner. Just as the family was sitting down, a knock came at the door. Ginny brushed off her apron as she walked the couple feet to the door. She was surprised to see her visitor.

"Hi, Ginny." Harry saw Neville and the children at the table. "Oh, I'm sorry, I can come back..."

Ginny beamed at him. "Nonsense! Come in! I made far too much food anyhow."

Harry joined them in the dining room.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

Harry gave her a little smile. "Have you ever known me not to be?" He took a seat at the table. Seeing him had to have been the highlight of Ginny's day. Nothing special ever happened at the house. All Neville would talk about was his accounting and working for the Malfoys, which bothered Ginny. She had never told him what had really happened between her and Draco before she and Neville married. Ginny figured it would only make things more complicated for their marriage. Unfortunately, she still thought about him. She put that out of her mind.

"So, what brings you around here, Harry?" Neville asked him. Neville still had the idea in his head that Ginny had a few lingering feelings for Harry. He had it all wrong…

"I just was in the area. Had some things I wanted to talk about." He cleared his throat. "Ginny, do you have a minute?"

She noticed the serious look on his face. "Of course." She turned to Neville. "Can you handle the boys for a moment?"

"Of course I can, I'm their father."

Ginny smiled nervously as she walked out of the room with Harry. "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about."

They sat together on the couch. "So, what's up?"

Harry shifted in his seat a little. "I proposed to Hermione."

Ginny's eyes lit up. "Harry, that's amazing! When's the wedding? Why didn't she tell me?!" Harry and Hermione had had an off and on relationship since Ginny's sixth year.

Harry's eyes looked downcast. "Probably because she said no."

"No?" Ginny was shocked. "No?"

"It doesn't help to hear you say that over and over."

Ginny still couldn't believe it. "Are you sure? I mean, well, why not? What happened?" A crash came from the kitchen that sounded like dishes breaking. Ginny winced.

"She almost left to fly to Greece with Andrew when I proposed..." Andrew had been pursuing Hermione for the past year. "...we had a fight earlier that day. She had said she didn't think I was ready for marriage."

Ginny sighed. "She didn't think you were ready to get married, so you tried to prove her wrong by proposing?"

Harry sighed. "Yeah, that was the idea."

"Are you really ready? Are you sure it wasn't just the fight that brought this on?"

"I love her, Ginny. I can't imagine my life without her... Or her with someone else." Harry thought it had to have been his love for Hermione that made Ginny cry, but Ginny, watching, knew better. She was living a good life, a secure life, but a life without the one thing she really needed. She loved Neville, really, truly, but she couldn't bear to imagine Draco with someone else. Ginny picked her head up and wiped away her tears.

"You can't let her go, Harry. Tell her what you told me. Tell her how you feel because if you let her go..." Ginny sighed. "...you'll never forgive yourself."

Harry nodded. He hugged Ginny and left the house to find Hermione. Ginny watched herself cry silently as she walked into the kitchen and began picking up Neville's broken dishes.

Ginny couldn't bear watching herself cry, so she walked into the bedroom. Her jewelry box caught her eye. She had always kept her personal things hidden there, ever since she’d received the box as a teenager. Opening one of the drawers, she found a blue velvet pouch and a fancy envelope with a green wax seal. Her name was written across the front of the envelope in nearly perfect script. Intrigued, Ginny reached to pick up the letter.

At that moment, everything began to fade. "Wait!" she shouted as the letter disappeared from her hand. Ginny stood in a blank room. There was nothing left to do but leave. Disappointed, Ginny opened the door and entered the octagonal room.

Chapter 16- The Other Man

Ginny found herself back in the octagonal room. Everything appeared as it had before. The word "Security" was still written on the door of the room she had just left, and Draco was nowhere in sight. Ginny reached for the door handle to her previous room, but found it locked, so she returned to room number 16 of the Blue Shutter Inn.

Draco was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. Ginny frowned. What could make him so upset? She had seen him angry before, but never like this.

She quietly came up beside him. "Everything okay?"

He jumped and glared at her. "Why'd you do that?!"

She recoiled. "Sorry." She settled on the edge of the bed. They sat in silence for a long time. Finally she looked at him tentatively. "Are you hungry?"

He shrugged without looking up. "Sort of."

There didn't seem to be any food in room 16, so Ginny led him to the room labeled "Stairs" in the octagonal room. She tried the handle, but it was locked. Draco had no better luck.

She turned to him, hopeless. "What are we going to do?"

Draco didn't know. He was fairly hungry, but from the looks of it, if they couldn't leave, they couldn't get food. Rather than sit on the couch for the rest of the night, Ginny suggested they try other rooms. Draco didn't like that idea very much. His first room had been so negative, how could another be any better? He had been stuck with the most annoying woman he knew, in a job where he was powerful but felt like father's puppet, and, worse, he had feelings for Ginny. On second thought, the next room had to be better. Grudgingly, Draco followed her to the octagonal room.

When the white of the room had faded, Ginny found she was in a hospital. Looking around, she was perplexed. Unlike her last room, Ginny wasn't here. The room was empty except for a hospital bed and a table. Was she dead?

Ginny left the hospital room and walked down the hallway. She breathed a sigh of relief. There she was. Behind a desk, Ginny stood holding a clipboard and mumbling to herself as she wrote things down. She wore a typical mediwizard uniform, but she had no badge like the older mediwizard she was following did. Her mentor left the room, and Ginny followed at his heels.

Ginny was training to become a full-fledge medic. She had helped the field medics during the war, and had chosen to follow that path since. In just six months, she'd be ready to take a job. As she watched Ginny practice spells with the old mediwizard, she noticed that Ginny used a different wand than she had at Hogwarts. She smiled. Remembering how her wand had broken in the forest of Lyseria, Ginny assumed this new one was its replacement. Watching herself, Ginny noticed that she cast her spells on a practice ball. It would glow a golden color if the spell was cast correctly, and a reddish one if it wasn't. So far, Ginny was getting about two-thirds of them right. Eventually, Ginny finished her shift and was sent home.

Arriving at home, Ginny found she lived in a cute flat in London with a small white cat named Violet. The place was neatly but sparsely decorated and relatively quiet. A clock ticked in the corner of the room as Ginny fixed herself a bowl of soup and settled on the couch. She looked at a picture on the wall. Her family and several of her old school friends had gathered for the picture during the holidays a few years back. Everything was so different now. Harry was in Auror training, Hermione was studying at University, and Ron had taken a job managing a Quidditch supply shop. Ginny had broken off her engagement to Neville in order to pursue her career, and he was now working in the Malfoy Corporation as an accountant while his pregnant new wife, a girl from Ravenclaw, stayed home. Colin was hired as a photojournalist for the Daily Prophet. Draco? Well, he had disappeared. Ginny hadn't seen him since the Graduation Ball his seventh year. He had left immediately after graduating, taking only his trunk. She had only heard from him once, in a letter.

Ginny had just finished her N.E.W.T.s. Sinking into her chair, she sighed. Soon she would leave Hogwarts, and this chapter of her life would be closed. Time for her last test was called and the students dazedly left the room. Ginny made her way back to her dormitory. One of her roommates was there, sitting on her bed and reading the latest issue of Witch Weekly. She spoke when she noticed Ginny.

"Someone left a letter for you."

On Ginny's bed was a parchment letter with a green wax seal. Her name was written elegantly on the front. Unfolding the heavy parchment, she began to read.

"My Dearest Ginny..."

Draco stood in the octagonal room. Ginny had just chosen "Independence". Considering his options, Draco entered the room "Excitement".

The white room turned to dark shadows. Draco wore a dark overcoat that swished quietly around him when he walked. It was four a.m. in Knockturn Alley. It definitely wasn't a safe place to be right then, with hooded figures whispering in corners and badly lit streets. Draco pulled his wand from his pocket and held it discreetly at his side. He stepped into the Hog's Head, sat at the bar and ordered himself a drink.

"Late night, Draco?"

Draco took a drink. "Yeah, tracking McPherison."

The man in the seat next to him took down his hood, and his dark, straight hair fell into his face. He was a young, Russian man with a strong chin and bold eyes. He spoke with a heavy accent. "Your father protects him like a child. We won't have what we need from McPherison until he's alone."

Draco ran a hand through his hair and ordered another drink. "I know, Nicolae, in another week we'll have him." He sipped his new drink. "Another week."

Nicolae had come from a wizarding school in Russia, and had joined the Ministry in the past year. He and Draco were partners. In an attempt to lighten the mood, he changed the subject. "So, I found a new girl this week."

Draco shook his head. "Another one? How do you make time for all these women?"

"Oh, you don't understand. This one's different."

Draco laughed. "Sure she is."

"Oh, she is! Legs for days, I swear it!"

Draco had only known Nicolae for a year, and this must have been his twentieth conquest. Nicolae was a bit of a womanizer.

"All your girls do. They've all got legs!"

"No, this one…" He groaned. "This one..." Nicolae took a drink and nudged Draco. "...for days, man." Draco could tell Nicolae had been drinking too much because he followed what he had been saying with a blur of Russian, punctuated by a bunch of gestures that would have been inappropriate for mixed company. "Tell you what," he slurred. "I'll bet you five galleons that she'll come home with me."

Draco shook his head. "How would I know if she had?"

Nicolae thought a moment. "I'll set you up with a girl I know, you can double with us." He tried to clear his head. "If she comes home with me, five galleons. If not, I'll give you five."

Draco knew he was way too drunk. "I don't think so, mate. You're too schnokered right now. You don't know what you're saying."

Nicolae smirked. "You just know you'll lose."

Draco took his drink from him and led him to the fireplace. "Fine. We're on. Let's just get you home, all right?" Draco Flooed Nicolae home, then apparated back to his flat.

Ginny held her breath as she read the letter. Clutching it to her chest, she fell back onto the bed. Why now? Why couldn't he have sent this a year ago? Or even yesterday? Before last night, she would have had the choice. Today she was engaged and nothing could be said to change that. Well, except maybe this. But, well, she couldn't think about him right now.

Ginny twisted the ring back and forth on her finger. It was simple, but nice. She needed time to think. She couldn't stay in her room right now. Picking up her grey cloak, she paused. She folded it and placed it back in her trunk, then picked up a familiar black one from the bottom. Throwing it over her shoulders and fastening its silver clasp, Ginny left for the castle grounds.

The next night, Draco showed up at "Accio!", the club Nicolae had chosen for their double date. "Accio!" was a novelty club where the bar and tables were charmed to float about fifteen centimeters off the ground. Draco hoped he hadn't arrived first. He didn't like clubs very much.

Fortunately, Nicolae was there with what looked like his date. She was a brunette with pouting pink lips and a very low neckline. Her purple eye shadow matched her violet tube top and her tall black boots clung to her legs, stopping at the knee.

Nicolae smiled. "Draco, this is Paula."

She stepped forward and reached out a hand to be kissed. "A pleasure."

Draco nodded. He expected her to go back and stand with Nicolae, but apparently, she wasn't planning on it. Draco leaned over and whipered to Nicolae, "Isn't this one yours? The leggy one?"

Nicolae laughed. "No, mine's in the bathroom. Oh wait, here she is." The woman that walked up next to Nicolae floored him. "Draco, this is Ginny."

Ginny went outside and circled the castle, looking for the nook she had always thought in. She slid into the niche in the stone wall. Ginny leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She knew what her life would be like with Neville. She'd stay home to take care of their children and live a life of housework and cooking. What if she wanted to work for the Ministry or at St. Mungo's? Could she ever be free to do what she wanted if she married him? She knew Catherine, a girl from Ravenclaw, had been devastated when she had heard of Ginny and Neville's engagement. Was it fair to her or to Neville if Ginny married him out of convenience when he and Catherine could have been so happy together?

Ginny looked at Draco's letter. "My Dearest Ginny..." Would she think about him still, even after establishing a life with Neville? She looked at the letter again. Yes, she thought of him still. She snuggled into Draco's cloak. Even after a year without any correspondence or hope of seeing him again, she thought of him. She knew by thinking of Draco, she would hurt Neville. Ginny left to find him.

Paula smiled and shook hands with Ginny, who was paying no attention to her but stared blankly at Draco until he caught her looking at him. Quickly, she put a hand on Nicolae's shoulder. Nicolae grinned at her, moving his own hand from her shoulder to her waist to her-

"Nicolae!" Draco snapped. Ginny looked up, stunned at his response.

Nicolae pulled Draco aside. "You all right?"

Nodding, Draco tried to shake off his feelings. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Nicolae nudged him. "Isn't she all I said she'd be?"

Draco looked at Ginny again. She wore a white blouse with a short, pleated blue skirt and strappy white heels. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she carried a blue sweater with her in case she got cold. Ginny had the sweet charm she had always had, but her eyes and the sway of her hips made her the single sexiest woman he had ever known.

"Draco?"

Draco thought back to being in the forest with her, seeing her sweet smile and...

"Hey, Draco!"

"Hmm?" Draco replied, still studying Ginny.

"So, what did you think of Paula?"

"Paula?" Draco looked confused.

"Yeah, Paula, your date. You sure you're okay?"

"Oh, yeah." Draco turned his attention back to Nicolae. "She's, um, fine."

Nicolae smiled. "I think she likes you."

Draco walked back with Nicolae. Nicolae and Paula talked together while Ginny and Draco sat in relative silence. Nicolae occasionally ran a hand up Ginny's leg. Draco could only tell because Ginny's eyes would widen, and then Nicolae's hand would come up from under the table looking a little redder than usual. She would occasionally look at him warningly, but he didn't slow his advances towards her. After a while, the group left for the dance floor.

Nicolae was very physical with Ginny while they danced, and Paula seemed to be very much like him, grinding against Draco whenever she got the chance. Nicolae started getting a little too aggressive with Ginny, so Draco cut in.

Ginny looked worried. She kept looking back at Nicolae for a reaction. "What are you doing?" she asked him, almost desperately.

"I'm cutting in." He held her softly. They danced in near silence until Draco couldn't help but ask the question that had raced through his head since he'd first seen her that night. "Why are you with this guy?"

"This guy?" she asked sarcastically. "Isn't 'this guy' your partner?"

Draco sneered. "He's my assigned partner. I didn't choose him. Anyway, what are you doing with him?"

Ginny sighed. "I met him when I was at the Ministry visiting my father. He asked for a date, that's all."

"He thinks he's taking you home tonight."

She was fuming now. "And you'd believe a man who's just met me over what you know of my integrity?"

"Well, I know you wouldn't have even dated a guy like that back when I knew you. You were with guys like Michael Corner and Dean and Seamus-"

Her hands were on her hips now. "And you." He went silent. "Well, did you think I'd wait forever for you?"

He spoke quietly. "I sent you a letter. You never came. I hardly think that's my fault."

"You waited a whole year to send it! I was engaged to Neville when I got it. I couldn't, I was so confused...I wasn't ready for another guy then."

"Even if it was me?" Draco tried to mask his hurt, but she didn't respond. He couldn't stay any longer. He grabbed Nicolae by the arm and pulled him toward the door.

Nicolae looked very confused. "What's going on?"

Draco pulled a pouch out his pocket and emptied twenty galleons into Nicolae's hand. "Let her go home." Draco looked sternly into his eyes. "Don't ever see her again." Nicolae nodded, and Draco walked out the door. The room turned back to white.

Ginny cried. She had just broken off her engagement to Neville, and she couldn't respond to Draco. Seamus had declared his feelings for Dean a year ago, Colin had never been an option, and Harry's heart had lied elsewhere. Being with Draco had been different, and that's why she couldn't respond to his letter. That's what it really was. She told herself that her family and friends wouldn't support her, that he could be taking a dark path, or that she was never really important to him, but in the end it all came down to that. Ginny knew that if she responded to Draco, this era of crushes and flighty dating would be over, and that scared her. She knew she'd have to be serious with him if she responded, so she didn't.

Ginny left the room.

Chapter 17 - Forgetting Forever

Draco and Ginny stepped out of their rooms at approximately the same time. It was too late to try other rooms, and they were both very hungry. Returning to the inn, they found a house-elf making the bed. Draco approached him. "Where can we find food around here?"

The house-elf folded his hands in front of himself. "I deliver the foods also, sir. Did you wants some?"

Ginny nodded. "Definitely. What do you have?"

They ate turkey with plum pudding and butterbeer as they sat on the couch. As they finished their meals, Ginny shifted to look at him. "What did you see in your rooms?"

Draco hesitated. "The first one?"

Ginny nodded. "Sure."

"I worked with my father in his company."

Ginny looked hopeful. "And?"

"And I was married to Pansy." Draco noticed her expression change.

"Oh," she said, trying to hide her disappointment.

"I'll be forced to marry her at graduation." Draco nearly winced as he admitted it.

Ginny couldn't help but look disappointed now. "Oh." She looked up at him. "Well," she hesitated, "unless you don't want to marry her..."

Draco grimaced. "Frankly, I'd rather be shot than marry her, but if I don't, I have to give up my position in my father's company and break all contact with him. I got to see that, too." He looked disheartened.

"And then you didn't have to marry Pansy?"

"No, I worked for the Ministry."

Ginny smiled. "That sounds better than a stuffy company, anyway. The Ministry's a very respectable place to work."

Draco shook his head. "Yeah, well, the girl I was with wasn't. What about you? Did you run off with that stupid Finnigan boy?"

Ginny's eyes narrowed. "Seamus is not stupid. And, for your information, no, I didn't."

Draco prodded for more information. "Oh? Someone must have snatched you up, then."

She looked at him with a bit of a smile. "Since when would you understand why anyone would want me?"

He scoffed. "Understand? I wasn't saying anything about…" He caught her eyes. His negativity melted, and he felt a strong urge to kiss her then and there. Maybe she did too. Maybe he should...

Draco cupped his hand against Ginny's cheek. She rested a little on it, enjoying his touch. As he started leaning toward her, the house-elf returned.

"Ah, is you finished with your foods, sir? Miss?" Draco and Ginny nearly sprung apart.

Ginny moved quickly, smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress, and Draco stood up. "Yes, I think we're quite done."

The house-elf left quickly, and Ginny still sat uncomfortably on the couch. She stood up when he moved to sit next to her. "We should go to sleep, now."

Draco shrugged and Ginny started getting ready for bed. She fluffed her pillow and turned her back to him as she changed into the most comfortable of her dresses. Draco could see a bit of her bra as she changed – a piece of shoulder strap and a bit of lace from the side where the cup of her breast began. He groaned quietly. He wanted her. He wanted to tear off her pretty new dress, throw her on the bed and...

"Did you want to use the bathroom, too? She tilted her head as she asked him.

He just wanted to stare at her. "Yeah. Okay." Draco took a cold shower and went to bed.

The next morning, Draco woke up to Ginny poking him in the chest.

"Morning! I've got bacon and pancakes..."

Draco squinted to look at her and to block the blinding sunlight that was coming from the window behind her. "Pancakes?" It smelled like pancakes. He looked at the plate in her hands. It looked like pancakes. He smiled. "Thank you."

Ginny felt a tickle in her heart when he smiled and took the plate of pancakes. Where had he suddenly gotten these manners from? She couldn't complain; it was nice. She smiled back at him. "You're welcome."

After they'd eaten, Draco and Ginny entered the octagonal room. Ginny immediately turned to the "Love" room and grabbed the handle. Turning back to look at Draco, she smiled.

Ginny entered the room.

Ginny's mind raced in the blank room. What kind of guy would she love? Seamus was sweet, Neville was kind, and Harry was familiar. Dean and Michael Corner were old news, and Draco was... Well, Ginny would find out soon enough. The room had begun showing Hogwarts. Ginny smiled. Hogwarts was decorated for the Graduation Ball. Ginny was dancing with Neville. Ginny's heart sank when she saw it. So it was Neville. She sighed. Ginny was wearing a dress she recognized. The green dress Draco had bought her was paired with a set of strappy heels.

Ginny smiled at Neville. He smiled back, then left to join his date as the song ended. Ginny returned to the refreshment table and took a cup of punch. A man walked up behind her and hugged her. Was this him? Ginny grinned as she turned to face him. "You look great, Harry."

He smiled at her and took a piece of cake from the table. "Thanks," he replied. "So do you."

She gave him a sentimental smile. "It's going to be weird not seeing you here anymore."

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's going to be weird not being here." Hermione called to him. Harry turned and nodded to her. He winked at Ginny. "Don't worry, I'll be around." With a smile he left to catch up to Hermione.

So maybe her man wasn't Harry. She sighed. She had broken things off with Seamus when they had returned from Lyseria. Ginny hadn't been able to give Seamus what he needed in a relationship, but he had soon found someone who could. Seamus and Dean had been together for several months. Ginny finished her punch as a lively song began. She liked this one. Ginny closed her eyes and listened. Within a few moments, she felt a hand on her waist and another on her arm. Ginny felt a deep voice in her ear. "Why aren't you dancing?" he asked her.

Ginny turned and faced Draco. He looked really good in his soft black dress robes. "Well, I..."

Draco hadn't spoken to her in months. He tilted his head slightly as he looked at her. "I thought you liked dancing."

"Well, I do, but..." she narrowed her eyes a little. "When did I say that?"

Draco smiled. "You didn't. I can just tell." She tried to hide a smile. He gestured to the dance floor. "Come on." Draco put his hand out to her. She took it.

Draco had entered his own room. He was sitting on a couch in his two room apartment. His head was in his hands and he looked like a mess. For the past year, Draco had been establishing himself as a researcher in a potions lab and taking classes at a wizarding university in London. The job was paying for school and just about nothing else. However, that didn't matter anymore. Ginny would be graduating from Hogwarts within a few weeks.

Draco took at picture out of his wallet that Colin Creevey had sent to him after Draco had left Hogwarts. If Colin's hobby had never seemed worthwhile, one thing Draco approved of was taking pictures of Ginny. Draco studied the photo. Ginny sat in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room. Draco, watching, recognized this photo as the same one he had seen in the "Power" room. He worried. Was this the love he was destined to have- endless and unrequited?

He had thought everything through. Getting off the couch, Draco took some heavy parchment and ink from his desk. Sitting down, he began to write.

My Dearest Ginny,

I know it's been a long time since we've spoken, and I hope you're doing well. I don't know what you've heard or if you've heard anything of me, but I'm fine. Meet me at Platform 12 at King's Cross once you arrive after graduation. I need to see you.

Draco

Draco led Ginny to the dance floor. He kept her hand in his and put the other on her waist. He was an exceptional dancer, which came as no surprise to Ginny, due to his upbringing. Ginny giggled as he spun and dipped her. They must have drawn a bit of attention, but neither of them cared. Soon the song ended, and the two of them separated.

The new song was a slow one. Ginny shifted uncomfortably for a moment, and was opening her mouth to suggest that she could go back to the refreshment table when he took her hand again. She looked up into his eyes as he spoke. "Dance with me." He pulled her close to him. Suddenly, Ginny's heart was beating faster than it had when he had been spinning her.

It was far too overwhelming. His arm was around her waist, her hand was in his and the look in his eyes made her want to confess every warm thought she'd ever had of him. She almost did, but he pulled her closer and she began to worry. Why couldn't the situation be easier? He would be gone in a few days and she might never see him again. If she could...

"Come with me," he told her.

Come with him? Where? When? How could she... "Come with you?" she asked. He was already leading her away from the party and out the doors of the castle. It was a little chilly outside, so he placed his cloak over her shoulders and pulled her toward him.

All this was so unexpected. They hadn't spoken to each other since they had left Lyseria, and now all this... Ginny had thought that maybe she had just been one of his conquests, a fleeting interest that wouldn't last. But she hadn't forgotten about him. It seemed he hadn't forgotten about her...

Draco had owled Ginny his letter a week ago. He paced as he waited at the train platform. The Hogwarts Express should have arrived five minutes ago, but Draco had seen no sign of Ginny. He sunk into a black metal bench and sighed. Maybe she wouldn't come. He couldn't blame her if she didn't. He hadn't seen her since the Graduation Ball last year, so why would she? She could have a boyfriend, or, worse, a fiancé. He should just give up on her.

"Do you always look this upset when you ask someone to meet you?" Draco looked up. Ginny smiled and her head was tilted a little to the left in the way it always had when she was making fun of him.

He stood up. "No, not usually." Ginny threw her arms around Draco's neck and rested her cheek against his shoulder. He held her and moved her to face him as he wove his fingers through her hair. "How have you been?"

Draco studied her as she spoke. "Could've been better."

"I've had a lot of time to think recently."

"And?" she asked him.

"And I've thought a lot about you." Ginny expected him to shift his eyes from her when he had said that, but he looked at her all the more intensely.

She looked teary. "I thought I'd never see you again." She closed her eyes. "I didn't date, I couldn't, but Neville asked me to marry him."

Draco shifted his eyes then.

"He sent me letters and visited on holiday."

He couldn't blame her. He'd told himself this could happen. Draco hadn't married Pansy, had given up his place in his father's heart and his father's company and was working his way through University. He had given up his fortune for a chance at a future with her, and now she was engaged. He thought about leaving. Draco looked at her one last time and walked back toward the station.

A cool wind whistled around Draco and Ginny outside the castle. "I thought," Ginny began. "I thought we agreed to forget about everything in Lyseria. I thought we agreed to forget about each other."

"But you haven't."

"No," she admitted.

Draco smiled and kissed her. It brought her back to the inn and the woods and the dress shop and everything that made her think of him. It had been torturous to see him walk past her without even a hint of a smile, to see him and Pansy together and pretend she didn't care. Now it was all right. Ginny fell into the kiss. Who could ever make her feel that way but him? She enjoyed the chill of the night and the warmth of him. Ginny imprinted the feeling in her mind for fear that she may never see him again. He broke the kiss and held her hand.

"My father insists that I marry Pansy by the end of the summer and begin work in his company immediately when I return home."

Ginny lowered her head.

"That's why I'm not going home."

She looked up. "You're not?"

"No."

Her voice was quiet. "Where then?"

"I don't know," he told her. "I just wanted to say goodbye."

"So, I won't see you again?" Ginny looked pained. "Ever?"

Draco held her closely and whispered in her ear. "It's best for both of us, you'll see. Maybe someday..." He pulled a velvet pouch from his pocket. "Here." Draco placed it in her hand and disappeared back into the castle.

Ginny paused, trying not to cry. He was gone. Ginny snuggled into the garment over her shoulders. He had left his cloak on her, and the smell his cologne lingered there. She sighed. Pulling open the pouch, she found three things. First was the amulet. It was as black now as it had been when she had first found it. Slipping it into her pocket, she moved to the next item- a necklace she recognized. Her features softened as she held it. Draco had reacted as if he'd known the Periclitari necklace from someplace else. It had seemed so important to him...

The last thing in the pouch was a note.

My mother received this necklace as a gift from my father. She wouldn't have sent the Periclitari if she hadn't wanted me to have it. I want you to have it. Ginny shook as she read it. In case we don't meet again... I love you, Ginny.

Walking up to the castle wall, she slid down into a seated position. Wrapping her arms around her legs, Ginny's head sunk. How was she supposed to forget him now? He loved her... Ginny pulled Draco's cloak around her and cried. The room changed to white.

Chapter 18- In Eternal Whiteness

Ginny left the "Love" room and walked back to room 16 of the Blue Shutter Inn. It was nighttime already, and her head hurt from thinking through all her worries. Ginny fell onto the bed. As thoughts raced through her mind, she nearly started to cry. Was she destined to be in love with a man who couldn't be with her? Furthermore, was she really going to love Draco? Ginny scoffed to herself. Her friends would never accept him, her family would worry that he'd treat her badly and he was an arrogant prat.

Then, Ginny's eyes softened. Draco was proving to be more caring than she had thought. He had carried her up the hill when she had fallen, had given her his cloak when her clothes tore and had slept on the couch for several nights. Ginny cuddled a pillow on the bed. Draco may not have been the most tactful person in the past, but at least she knew anything nice said was sincere. His confidence was kinda sexy, and that body...

Ginny stopped herself. What was she thinking? She couldn't fall for him even if she wanted to. They couldn't be together, and she would have her heart broken. She wouldn't let that happen. But the way that he kissed her...

"Thinking of me?" Draco smirked, pointing to the pillow Ginny was currently wrapped around.

"No." Ginny replied defensively, throwing the pillow to side and off the bed.

"It's all right," Draco grinned. "I don't mind."

Ginny shook her head and went to her dresser for a comb. Ginny combed her hair as she sat on the bed, and Draco sat next to her. Laying back, his arms rested behind his head. His pose reminded her of a sprawled, sleepy cat. "Comfortable?" she asked.

Draco's room had continued years past the train station. Was he destined for a life like the one he had seen? It had seemed to be such a difficult journey to him. Infuriating his father, giving up his place in the company, forging a life on his own... Was all this trouble just so he wouldn't marry Pansy, or was it for something else?

Draco stopped his daydreaming for a moment to watch her comb her hair to a shine. Someone else? he thought. Just when Ginny thought he hadn't been listening, he spoke. "Yes, I think so." He continued to stare at her blankly.

He could reason that it was for himself, that he needed to be independent, to create a life of his choosing. He could argue that he hated his father, hated Pansy, and that he was just avoiding them, but he could have worked for the Ministry, like in the "Independence" room, for that.

"Are you all right?" She tilted her head and moved her face into his line of vision until he was forced to focus on her.

This was different.

"Huh?" Draco looked as if his mind was currently on another planet.

"I asked if you were all right."

That seemed to register with him. If it was or wasn't for Ginny, he couldn't say.

"Oh." He nodded. "Yeah."

She was so beautiful. From the top of her head to the tips of her delicate toes, she was beautiful.

Guys had been saying things like that about Ginny Weasley since fifth year, but Draco had always scoffed at that. He had never really looked at her (Why would he?), which was unfair, but made it a lot easier for him to dislike her. He hadn't wanted to see her, but now...now he wasn't sure if he wanted to go a day without at least a glimpse of her. Draco found himself touching her hair. It was so soft.

Ginny looked at him curiously. "Are you sure you're all right? What are you doing?" Draco was still running his fingers through her hair. "Malfoy?"

He shook his head. "Draco," he said. "Call me Draco."

He hadn't stopped playing with her hair when he said it, never shifting his eyes to her face, but Ginny felt a strong chill throughout her body. Ginny had never seen him like this before. She trembled. It scared her but excited her at the same time.

She spoke in a sweet, hushed voice. "Draco."

Draco's intense eyes shifted to hers. He scooped her body into his arms, pulling her closely against him. His hand wove through Ginny's hair as he looked into her eyes. Adrenaline ran through Ginny's body as she cupped his cheek with her hand. She knew he wanted her, so why was she so scared? Ginny closed her eyes to kiss him, but she froze.

Draco didn't understand. Maybe she didn't really want this. He looked into her tortured eyes and sighed. Releasing his hold on her, Draco left the bed and stood up. He ran a hand through his hair and was about to go sit on the couch when he realized that Ginny was standing next to him. There was a determined look in her eyes that conveyed more than she was able to say. Holding the back of his neck, Ginny kissed him.

A flood of emotion ran through him as she wrapped her arms around him. He loved her, and even if he couldn't tell her, he'd show her the best he could. Draco's lips just brushed hers, making Ginny shudder, and a little sigh escaped her lips as he kissed down her neck and across her collarbone. She kissed him softly. Shivers ran down Draco's spine as her fingertips traced his sides and arms. Draco sat them both down on the bed, and Ginny removed his shirt.

Sighing, she moved her hands across his chest. Draco kissed her, then his eyes met hers with a question as he thumbed a strap of her dress. He kissed down her arm. "It's okay," she whispered to him.

He kissed up to her ear. "You sure?"

Ginny's voice lowered to a sultry whisper that no one would have expected from her. "Draco..." She kissed him and turned so he could see the lacing on her dress to untie it. "...it's okay."

The sound of her voice sent a chill through him. Where had this seductress come from? He unlaced her dress, noticing the curve of her back, and the dress slid off her shoulders. He marveled at her softness, the freckles across her shoulders, the curve of her waist. Draco pulled her against him and nibbled across her shoulder.

Ginny had never felt this way before. Heat spread through her body at his touch, and she gave into the pleasure he gave her. Ginny wrapped her arms around him as Draco turned off the light.

______________________________

Ginny woke up to sunshine streaming through the window. Yawning, she stretched her arms. There was one thing this morning that was different from other mornings. This morning, Ginny had woken up cuddled in the arms of Draco Malfoy. Ginny giggled to herself. Draco Malfoy. She kept repeating his name in her mind, as if the repetition would keep this feeling forever. Draco Malfoy. She giggled again.

"And what could possibly be so funny this early in the morning?" Draco asked, pushing hair out of his eyes. After noticing the extremely cuddly position he was in, he drew away and propped himself up on his side.

Ginny pulled the bedsheet up to her shoulders and grinned. "Good morning," she spoke cheerfully.

Draco looked her up and down. "You're choosing to be modest now?"

She stood up, taking the sheet with her. "Well you don't just expect me to parade around naked, do you?"

Draco grabbed a towel, preparing for a shower. "I don't see why not." He smirked, almost slyly at her before locking himself in the bathroom.

Raising her arms up as wings, Ginny fell backward onto the bed. She wondered. Was anything going to change after what happened last night? What did Draco really feel toward her? Was she merely an object of his desire or did he really care about her? Ginny had tried to suppress her feelings for him. A life with Draco would be nearly impossible, yet... She remembered the "Love" room. He did love her, or, at least, he would. How would she feel about him if she gave into her emotions? Even now, her heart raced when she was near him. How would things change when they went home?

Draco appeared from the bathroom, mopping his hair with a spare towel. Ginny took her turn as Draco got dressed in the main room. Sitting on the couch, he pulled a small piece of parchment from his pocket. "Your turn." His mother always had been crafty. She had sent him to Lyseria to teach him a lesson about himself and she'd done it. Draco knew what he had to do, now. It was time to go home.

Ginny wore her yellow dress, and her combed, wet hair began to dry as it laid upon her shoulders. She turned toward the mirror as she smoothed her dress, then turned to Draco. "Ready?" she asked.

"Of course." Draco stuffed the scrap of parchment into his pocket as he stood up. He and Ginny walked into the octagonal room. It was different now. The words marking the doors were gone, and the riddle across the top of the room was illuminated as if by firelight.

Ginny turned to Draco. "Do you think this is it? Do you think we'll go home, now?"

Draco spoke in a slightly bitter tone. "That anxious to get rid of me?"

The way she looked at him conveyed her mixed feelings as she placed her hand softly on his shoulder. "Well, I just...I..."

"Come on." Draco walked away from her hand and toward a blank door. He looked back at her with impatience. "Come on!" Ginny hurried in behind him as he opened the door and walked inside.

The room was white. Nothing was different about the beginning of this room than the beginnings of the others. Well, nothing except that this time they were together. And, this time, the room wasn't changing. Endless whiteness, nearly blinding in its clarity, surrounded them. Ginny stood out in her yellow dress and Draco more so in his black cloak, but nothing else could be seen. Ginny looked at Draco with a face that tried to mask her worry. "Why isn't it changing?" She looked around for a sign of something, anything, in the room. "What are we going to do?"

Draco stood for a moment, then put out his hand for her to take. "Come with me." She did. They walked directionlessly for what seemed like an eternity. Ginny was about to cry when they saw a black dot in the distance. Draco watched open mouthed as Ginny sprinted forward. "WEASLEY!" Draco shouted to a girl so far away, already, she couldn't hear him. Draco ran after her. Slowly the dot came into focus. Ginny had stopped, confused, and Draco caught up.

"The Wooden Duck", Lyseria's bar, was sitting on a field of white emptiness. It looked exactly as it had, except Ginny was already there. Both Draco and Ginny faced her. It wouldn't have been very odd to see another Ginny in this room, considering the past ones, but this time she was looking straight at them. She wore a white dress with a bright red sash around her waist and red trim around the sleeves, collar and skirt. Her hair was behind her in a single braid, and she looked five or six years older than Ginny did. Ginny had necklace around her neck and a baby in her arms. She looked at them with a peace and amusement that unsettled Draco. "It's okay," she told Ginny. She turned to Draco who was looking at her suspiciously. She smiled knowingly. "Settle down, Draco. You know, you'll end up with wrinkles if you keep scowling like that. Come on in; I'll send you home." She walked into the bar, leaving the two of them outside.

Ginny turned to Draco. "That was me...talking to me..."

Draco grinned in amusement. "That difficult of a concept?"

She gave him a warning, stern look. "Still it's odd to experience that..."

"We're going home," Draco told her. Ginny looked up into his eyes. He looked away, he knew what she wanted to ask him. "I don't know what will happen. Who ever really knows? You know our families and friends...how hard everything would be..."

"Yeah." A few tears slipped from her eyes. "This is it, isn't it?" When he didn't answer, Ginny turned away, not wanting to cry in front of him.

Draco put his arm around Ginny's waist and pulled her close to him. He tilted her face up to him. "Don't worry about what happens."

Ginny poured every bit of feeling- anger, frustration, caring- everything she had every felt for him into that kiss. They broke apart, and Ginny reached for the bar door. Draco put his hand on her left shoulder, talking to her over her right, her back against his chest. "That baby was mine, you know. The baby you were holding." It was impossible not to know that baby was his with those eyes. Ginny nodded, wiping tears from her cheeks. Feeling more hopeful, Ginny opened the door.

Ginny sat at one of the bar stools with the baby, and she smiled when she saw them come in. "Ready to go home?"

Draco was oddly silent then, but Ginny lifted her head and spoke for them. "Yes. We're ready."

Ginny nodded at the two of them and lifted her wand. Speaking clearly and moving her wand through a spell neither Draco nor Ginny knew, she finished by pointing at them. With an explosion of yellow light, they were gone.

Sorry it took so long! I finally had time! It’s completely written now, and I’ll type the last chapter within a few days. Happy reading!

Chapter 19 Land of Broken Hearts

Ginny opened her eyes. She was in a bed in the Hogwarts infirmary. Blinking into the light, she saw someone in front of her. “You were knocked out just outside the castle,” Hermione told Ginny, feeling her forehead for fever.

“Did you find me, then?” Ginny asked, trying to replay the scene in her mind.

Hermione shook her head. “Malfoy carried you back here. Something must have happened to you when you came back to Hogwarts.” She paused. “But Seamus came to visit you. Isn’t that nice?”

Ginny sat up quickly. “Where is he?” Her eyes searched the room.

“Seamus went off with Dean somewhere. Do you want me to find him?”

Ginny frowned. “No, Draco. Where is he? Was he okay? Find him…” Ginny suddenly stood up and quickly began picking up her things.

“What are you doing? You need to rest! Ginny!” Hermione called after her, but Ginny had already left the room.

_________________

Ginny had run to the Slytherin common room that night, only to be met with a Draco that wouldn’t look at her. Ginny had cried all the way to her bedroom that night, trying to make sense of all that had happened. None of it seemed fair. He didn’t look at her for the whole rest of the year. There were times where she felt his presence in her room late at night. Once she even had a very vivid dream that he was kissing her and apologizing, but when Ginny woke up he wasn’t there. At breakfast that morning there was no acknowledgement that she existed, Pansy had only increased her affections since her “poor baby had been forced into being near a slimy Weasley for so long”.

Ginny couldn’t bear the sight of Pansy almost as much as seeing Draco. Her upturned nose, that nasal flirtatious laugh, the way she put her arms around Draco as if to say “He’s mine.” Ginny hated that, and she hated her. She’d never liked her, true, but now…a mix of disgust, hatred and…there was that time she found her kissing him in the halls…envy. Ginny kept to the common room after that.

Ginny tried to give up hope. She tried a couple more dates with Seamus, only for to realize that his heart truly lied with Dean. That was a blow to the ego. The Slytherins had made fun of the three of them for at least a month after that. At least Draco hadn’t been there for that.

By the end of the year, things had gotten a little easier and her heart had mended itself a little. She was able to look at the dresses he had given her without a massive pang in her heart, and even decided to wear the green one to the Graduation Ball. This year was particularly hard on Ginny, since a good number of her friends were leaving. Now she was talking to Harry, saying their goodbyes. It was an immense feeling, knowing her friends, especially Harry and Hermione, were leaving Hogwarts.

Ginny gave him a sentimental smile. "It's going to be weird not seeing you here anymore."

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's going to be weird not being here." Hermione called to him. Harry turned and nodded to her. He winked at Ginny. "Don't worry, I'll be around." With a smile he left to catch up to Hermione. Ginny was struck with a strange feeling. Had she had a dream about this?

Ginny walked over to the punch bowl and sipped at a cup of it. A song, one she liked, started playing and she closed her eyes to listen and think about the strangeness of the dream-like feeling. Within a moment, she felt a hand on her waist and another on her arm, both holding her softly. She felt a deep voice tickle her ear. “Why aren’t you dancing?”

Ginny’s eyes shot open. She remembered. She was struck with sudden clarity, surprise and nostalgia. Back in Lyseria, this had happened. This had happened, Draco had danced with her, left her…but he hadn’t seen this part of her future, had he? It was all new to him.

She turned to face him. He looked more charming than ever, his soft black dress robes draped on his figure and cool eyes warming her with the nostalgic look he was giving her. “Well, I…” she stumbled. She couldn’t believe this…that he was willing to be seen in public with her like this.

He tilted his head and stroked her arm. “I thought you liked dancing.”

“Well, I do, but…” Her eyes narrowed a little. “When did I say that?”

He smiled at her, a smile that made her want to love him all over again. “You didn’t, I can just tell. Come on.” He put his hand out to her like he had always done. Ginny took it, and they started dancing. He spun her around to the quick beat of the song, and she laughed. Ginny felt like she was floating on air. The song soon ended, switching to a slower one.

With uncomfortable uncertainty, Ginny separated from him. She was surprised he had danced with her that once, so when he asked to dance to the slow song with her, her heart raced. “Dance with me.” He had said, and they were. Ginny didn’t know what to think. She was so flustered around him, every feeling of their time together had rushed back to her, and she felt so safe in his arms that she didn’t care who was watching them.

Draco led her outside, put his cloak on her shoulders and kissed her. Ginny was filled with heart bursting hope, but then she remembered he was leaving. All this, and he was leaving within a couple days. He told her that he had to marry Pansy and work for his father, that he wasn’t going to let that happen, but had to run instead, building his life somewhere else. Ginny could barely listen, but it was all right because she didn’t have to. She’d heard this before, but it didn’t make any of it less real, less hurtful. At least he wouldn’t marry Pansy. At least he wasn’t going to be a slave to his father and the company and…she threw arms around him and fought her tears. He held her, stroking her hair and letting her cry. "It's best for both of us, you'll see. Maybe someday..." He pulled a velvet pouch from his pocket. "Here." Draco placed it in her hand and disappeared back into the castle.

Ginny sunk to the ground, wrapping herself in the cloak. She knew what would be in the pouch, but she had to see them. She pulled out the black amulet, his mother’s necklace and finally the note. With haste she unfolded it, reading the ending over and over.

“…In case we don’t meet again…I love you, Ginny.”

Ginny promised herself then that she would not think of Draco Malfoy any longer, but for that moment, she let herself cry.

_______________

Ginny dropped a stack of books on her bed. She was almost finished with Hogwarts! Ginny hung out her window, watching a group of second years playing tag in the sunset, a warm breeze filtering through her hair. She took a deep breath and sighed. Neville had asked her to meet him at the Astronomy Tower after sunset. Ginny smiled. He had been making an effort to come see her more often now that he had a steady accounting job. This was to be a short visit, however, because Ginny had her final N.E.W.T.s in the morning. Ginny grabbed her light cloak and headed out through the common room.

Colin was resting in an armchair there, sorting through photos for his job application portfolio for the Daily Prophet. He looked up from his work. “Going to meet Neville, Ginny?”

She looked at him oddly. “Yeah, why?”

He shook his head. “Don’t…” he mumbled. “Don’t go, Ginny.”

“Colin,” she put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong? Why not?”

Colin shook his head. “I’m sorry. Go. Yes, you should.” He looked up at her. “Just follow your heart, okay?”

She gave him a worried smile. “Of course.” Ginny gave him a hug. “There’s nothing to worry about.” Ginny left the common room and headed for the astronomy tower.

Ginny climbed the steps until she reached the platform of the tower. Neville was leaning against a wall, waiting for her. He wore a brown cloak with brown sweater and pants that matched his brown leather shoes, his work outfit. He smiled when he saw her. “Ginny bean…” he walked up to her and hugged her. Neville held both of her hands.

“Neville.’

“Ready for tomorrow’s N.E.W.T.s?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think so. I’ve been putting extra work into my potions exam.”

Neville started rubbing his hands on his pants and fidgeting. “Good, good. Work in the company is steady. I’ve got my own desk now.”

Ginny gave him a half smile. “Good?”

Neville stammered a little. “Oh, y-yes, definitely.”

“Neville are you all right?”

He nodded vigorously. “ Uh huh. Yes. Just fine. Here.” He handed her a bouquet of daffodils.

Ginny smiled. “Oh, Neville, they’re lovely!” She smelled her flowers and hugged him. She noticed he was still trembling. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Neville looked at his shoes. “Ginny, I…Ginny you…” Ginny looked confused. Neville dropped to his knee. “Ginny, please marry me.” Ginny dropped her flowers in surprise. She had thought he was serious about her, but she never thought he’d get the courage to propose. Did she even love him?

“Ginny?”

Had he really just proposed? To her? Ginny Weasley? No, Ginny Longbottom. She repeated it in her mind. Ginny Longbottom. No matter how she said it…she thought back to what Colin had said. Follow your heart. He must have known about this. She closed her eyes and tried it one more time. Ginny Longbottom.

“Ginny?” Neville had stood up by now.

She hated herself for thinking of it, but she couldn’t help but think of Draco. Ginny sighed. She picked up her flowers and handed them softly to Neville. “I’m sorry…I can’t.” She looked up at him. “Neville, I’m so sorry…” Neville clutched her flowers and Ginny left the astronomy tower.

Last one! I’m so glad I’ve posted all of this! Sorry it took forever to finish this story. Hope you like it! Feel free to review or email me with any unanswered questions as I highly doubt there will be a sequel. I’m at rainimarrimore@yahoo.com. Happy reading!

Chapter 20 Finding Forever

Ginny passed Colin in the common room as she ran to her dormitory. She couldn’t marry Neville. She couldn’t. Ginny hated to hurt him, but she just couldn’t marry him. She had never really loved him. Well, she had, but not the way she would love the man she would marry someday.

Ginny remembered the rooms in Lyseria. Neville would have held her back. He would have smothered her. He would have put her in a little house with shutters and a pot of flowers on the porch and given her little boys to take care of. There was something to be said for that security, but just not for her. Ginny wanted the secure life and warm fireplace. She wanted kids and for Neville to be happy…but not with her. She couldn’t love him when she was still so confused about herself. Ginny went to sleep early that night partially to get some rest for N.E.W.T.s in the morning, but mostly to forget about men.

When Ginny woke up, she skipped breakfast to write a letter to Neville explaining her choice. Ginny had trouble writing it, but she felt she owed him the closure of a better response. Eventually, she finished and sent him the letter before heading off to hours of N.E.W.T. testing.

___________________

Ginny relaxed in her chair when she finished. When time was called, she left and returned to her room. Her roommate was painting her toenails and reading a copy of Witch Weekly. Ginny paused. She had been in this situation before. Suddenly, she remembered. The letter from Draco was supposed to come today! She looked on her bed, where it had been before. Nothing. Turning to her roommate, Ginny spoke. “Did anyone leave a letter for me?”

Her roommate shook her head. Ginny sat on the bed. So she hadn’t gotten a letter. In every room, no matter what choices Ginny made, she had received a letter. How could she not get one? Ginny dug through her wooden clothes chest and took out the pouch Draco had given her at the Graduation Ball last year. Ginny pulled the necklace out and held it in her hand. It glistened and shone as if newly polished. Putting it down, she took out the thing she had really wanted to see. At the bottom of that note, four simple words were written that Ginny, admittedly, had read more than a few times.

“I love you, Ginny.” If he had really loved her, why hadn’t he contacted her for the past year? No letter? Ginny bit her lip. Maybe he had forgotten about her. She suddenly choked up. He had forgotten about her. There was no other reason. He had to have forgotten, or he would have sent secret letters if nothing else. Broken hopes and suppressed feelings from the past year flooded from her. Ginny ran to find Colin.

“I give up!” She cried when she saw him. “This isn’t worth it. I can’t love him, and I won’t!” Ginny threw herself into Colin’s sympathetic arms. He had gotten better at this in the past couple years.

He ran his hands through her hair and let her cling to him. “What happened? This isn’t about Neville, is it?”

Ginny cried. “Neville? He’s the last of my troubles. I can’t believe I did that to him. I turned down his proposal and probably broke the poor man’s heart, and, yet, he’s the least of my troubles!”

“You did him a favor. If you didn’t love him, you’d both be unhappy. You know that. It’s best this way.”

“I know.” Ginny whimpered. She slouched in the chair and put her head in her hands.

Colin tried again. “Are you in love?”

Ginny turned her head. “Right,” she spoke sarcastically. Colin gave her a look, and she knew exactly who he meant. “Love? Malfoy?” She paused and shook her head. “Of course not.” She started to tear up again. “How could I love someone who wouldn’t look at me when he passed me and hasn’t spoken to me for a year? How could I love him? How could I love someone who doesn’t love me, who doesn’t care enough to…”

“He does love you.” Colin admitted.

“No, he doesn’t.” She buried her face in his shoulder.

“Yes,” Colin sighed, “he does.”

Ginny looked at him, annoyance and pain in her eyes. “Why would you say something like that? How would you know?”

Colin looked as if he thought not to tell her, but felt she ought to know. “Because he told me!”

Ginny stopped crying. “What?” She looked confused. “Why would he tell you?”

Colin shook his head. “Well, more accurately, he threatened me, and then asked me for a favor.” Ginny looked at him quizzically, wiping tears from her eyes. “Malfoy told me that I had better watch out for you. He asked me to send a letter to him every once in a while to tell him you were okay. I sent him a picture of you in the common room.”

“A picture of me?” Her breath hitched as she spoke, but she wasn’t sure if it was from surprise or from residual tears.

“A pretty innocent one, really. He just wanted a picture of you in case he couldn’t see you again.” Ginny started crying again. “I know you love him and…” as hard as it was for him to say it, Colin continued. “...and I want you to be happy. Even if it’s with him.” He reached into his pile of papers. “Here.” Colin handed her a letter with a green seal. “This came at breakfast. You weren’t there, so I picked it up for you.” Ginny beamed at him, kissed Colin on the cheek and ran to her room to read her letter.

___________________

The Hogwarts Express was boarding passengers. Ginny pulled her trunk behind her, and looked back at the castle. She was done. She had graduated from Hogwarts and now she was a fully privileged, educated witch. She could apparate, get a job, practice magic, move away from home and do whatever her heart desired. Ginny felt powerful.

Looking at Gryffindor tower and the Quidditch pitch, however, her sentimentality took over. She would miss school. She would miss her friends, her teachers, the crazy happenings of the past several years…Despite that, she smiled. She’d still talk to Colin, Hagrid, Dumbledore and the others. Life wouldn’t end. Ginny blew a kiss to Hogwarts, and smiled at Colin as they boarded the train.

When it stopped, Mrs. Weasley was there to receive Ginny. Her mother pulled her into a big hug. “Oh, my little girl. My little baby’s all grown up.”

“Mum, I’ve got some people I need to talk to…” Ginny gestured to Colin and a few others.

“Of course, dear. We can catch up later.” Mrs. Weasley apparated home.

“Colin!” Ginny called as Colin took his wand out to leave. He turned to look at her. She smiled. “I’ll miss you.”

Colin rubbed his neck. “Bah, no need to miss me. I’ll see you around.” Ginny kissed his cheek and headed for Platform 12. As Ginny walked past Platforms 10 and 11, she wondered what was going to happen. Draco ‘needed to see her’. Ginny hoped he was okay. She walked up to Platform 12.

There he was. Draco was slouched forward, sitting on a black metal bench. His face, which usually looked so strong, conveyed worry and tiredness. Ginny smiled and tilted her head. “Do you always look this upset when you ask someone to meet you?”

Draco stood up, breaking into a half smile. “No, not usually.” Ginny flung her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder and relishing the feel of his arms around her. She looked up when he spoke. “How have you been?”

Her eyes lowered, his arms still wrapped around her waist. “Could’ve been better.”

Draco absorbed the feeling of her being near him. Her smell, her hair, her eyes… “I’ve had a lot of time to think, recently.”

“And?” she asked softly.

His eyes stayed intensely focused on her. “And I’ve thought a lot about you.”

Ginny felt weak when she heard him. She didn’t know whether to be happy or to cry. Ginny closed her eyes. “I thought I’d never see you again.” Ginny felt he had to know. It hurt her to tell him. “I didn’t date, I couldn’t, but…” She looked down. “But Neville asked me to marry him.” Draco winced. “He sent me letters and visited me on holiday…” Draco looked as if he were kicking himself just then. He looked so pained that it nearly broke her heart in two. Draco turned away and walked back into the station.

Ginny couldn’t believe it. After all this time, after having Colin watch over her, after sending her that letter, and even after holding her the way he just had, he was leaving. Ginny ran after him. She knew if she didn’t, she may never see him again.

Already wearing his coat, Draco had almost left the room when Ginny ran up behind him. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

Draco turned angrily to face her. “So you agree to marry someone else?! Do you love him?!”

Ginny yelled at him, pain in her eyes. “No!”

He yelled louder. “Then why are you marrying him?!” Everyone in the station was watching the two of them, by now.

Ginny looked frustrated, tears sparkling in her eyes. “I’m not marrying him! I couldn’t marry him because I’m in love with you!” She started crying. “I broke a man’s heart for the slight hope that I would ever see you again!”

Draco’s eyes softened. “So you’re not marrying him?”

Ginny looked up at him, tears running down her cheeks. “No.”

Draco, put an arm around her waist and smirked. “And you love me?”

Ginny shuffled her feet. Draco’s smile broadened. He tilted her chin up so her eyes met his. “And you love me?”

“Yes, I love you.” Draco grinned and kissed her. It was a kiss he had never given her before, one filled with tenderness and joy. It was for this kiss that she had waited so long. His lips fell softly from hers, and he took a step back.

“I have to catch the train. I’ve got work in the morning.” He told her, straightening his coat.

“What?!” Ginny couldn’t believe he was leaving, now.

“Yeah, at the University. Potions research. I have a flat near the campus.” They walked back toward the train.

Ginny choked up and tried to control her emotions. She failed. “So you come back after a year, have me admit that I love you, kiss me and leave?”

“No.”

Ginny was really frustrated. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

Draco walked casually to the train, which was beginning to board passengers. “I mean, no. Come with me.”

It struck Ginny that she hadn’t thought of this. She looked at him with suspicion and confusion. “What do you mean ‘come with you’?”

Draco stepped onto the train, Ginny standing right in front of him. “Come with me, Ginny.” He held his hand out to her as he had so many times before. Draco looked at her directly. “Marry me.” It took a moment for Ginny to process what he had said. Then, she noticed the train ticket and ring in his palm. Draco was serious. She said it in her mind. Ginny Malfoy. Her stern face lighted into a huge grin. Ginny took his hand, and they boarded the train.