Unofficial Portkey Archive

Summary: It's sixth year for the trio and Ginny's in her fifth year. What happens when she finds that not everyone is what they appear to be? D/G with H/HR and R/LL on the side.

A/N: This story was my first work and was previously posted on fanfiction.net. Those of you familiar with me already know of my obsessive editing and won't be surprised to hear that some parts of this story have changed from the one posted on ff. This version is a little darker and I'll warn you straight away, the chapters aren't long ones. Please feel free to let me know of any spelling or grammatical errors in your reviews. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: The characters, setting and props obviously aren't mine-just the angsty little plot.

Chapter 1 Not Quite the Hero

Ginny Weasley threw open the castle's wide oak doors to the lovely autumn day and breathed in deeply. She relished the scent of the outdoors during this, her favorite time of the year. She began stepping lightly down the stone steps in anticipation of spending some time outside in what was likely to be one of the last few days of good weather before the true Scottish fall set in. Her feet hesitated the tiniest bit as she saw the Slytherin Quiditch Team in the distance. They strode proudly toward the stadium entrance carrying their brooms on their shoulders; their green and silver robes swirled around them in the breeze.

The captain's voice carried faintly across the grounds, "If we're going to beat Ravenclaw, we've got to shore up our defense! We're going to concentrate on keeper skills today. Chasers and beaters, you line up and try to score on Bletchley. Really have a go at it and give him a workout! Malfoy, I'm releasing the snitch and I want you to practice your seeking. Alright, let's get on with it, then!" And at that, the Slytherin team shot skyward.

All but one headed toward the end of the field. Ginny knew it was Draco Malfoy, the seeker, who flew high and solitary. His flaxen hair was streaming behind him along with his emerald robes as he scanned for the snitch. As Ginny walked through the grass to the Forbidden Forest, she felt a chill skitter up her spine. She turned her head slowly and found Draco sitting high on his broom, gazing at her, his face inscrutable at that distance. Ginny returned his stare defiantly for a bit, then tossed her crimson hair and continued into the forest.

It was an understatement to say that the Malfoy and Weasley families were not on good terms. Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, was responsible for Ginny's near fatal dealings with Tom Riddle, now Lord Voldemort, in the Chamber of Secrets. "Bloody git!" Ginny said under her breath as she reached the edge of the trees. But she couldn't control the shiver that ran its icy fingers up her spine as she forced the memories of her first year to the back of her mind trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

Ginny was in search of willow bark to complete a potion and, not willing to risk the wrath of the Whomping Willow, hoped she could find it on the outskirts of the forest. She wasn't having any luck with the trees that bordered the grounds so she decided that walking just a bit further into the forest wouldn't hurt. Ginny squinted her eyes looking through the shadows for the needed tree, surprised at just how little sunlight penetrated the leaves above her. She shivered as the cool breeze weaved through her mocha-brown jumper and she wrapped her arms snuggly around herself for warmth. As Ginny scanned through the trees for a willow, she enjoyed the vivid leaves and began humming softly, adding her melody to some of the forest sounds drifting around her.

Suddenly, Ginny's skin prickled and her gaze snapped to a point just up the path. Some small trees and bushes ahead were swaying…and crunching. A nasty looking creature, deep purple with horns and strange feet, was lumbering about as it foraged. Ginny stood stock-still, her mind buzzing in panic as she quickly looked around, realizing that she had come in too far and couldn't see the end of the trees anymore. She began backing up slowly, keeping her eyes on the creature and praying that it wouldn't notice her. Crack! Her heart jumped into her throat as she realized her foot had landed on a fallen branch. The creature raised its ugly head and, sighting Ginny, began to lope toward her. Ginny turned and ran with all her might through the trees-stumbling over roots and brush. Branches from the trees reached out to snag at her jumper but she tore away from them. She felt like she had run forever when she finally burst out of the forest but she could still hear crashing behind her and knew the beast was still in pursuit. "Hagrid!" Ginny shrieked, panting. But there was no smoke curling from Hagrid's chimney.

Terrified, Ginny could feel herself tiring and the thundering feet behind her sounded closer and closer. With every labored breath, her lungs felt as though they were on fire and she could feel her legs slowly turning to rubber. She began to lose all hope and wondered with increasing dread how long it would be before the beast caught up with her. Whoosh! She saw something flash by going in the opposite direction. `What was-?' After a few seconds, "HANG ON!" rang from a powerful voice from her left. An arm came around Ginny, scooped her off the ground and lifted her onto his broom in front of him. She quickly threw her arms around the flyer and twisted her body so that her face was pressed against his chest and hung on for dear life.

The strong arm around Ginny's waist lifted her up to a less precarious sitting position on her rescuer's lap. She clung on even more tightly, burying her face in soft material, and sobbed chokily. "You're all right now-I've got you," a tense voice breathed into her ear. Ginny was pulled closer and she could feel the flyer's muscles clenching, fighting to control his broom and hold on to her as he forced them higher into the air and away from the beast. Ginny heard the animal roar in frustration from somewhere behind them. They flew for just a little while longer and began to descend. "Get ready!" gasped the voice just seconds before they plowed into the ground.

THUD! They were thrown from the broom to land several feet away in a tangle on the soft grass. "Are you alright?" he demanded, crawling quickly to her. Ginny threw her arms gratefully back around him and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek as his arms wound back around her. She hugged him even tighter and choked out into his ear, "Thanks so much! I thought I was done for!" Then, Ginny felt her rescuer recoil slightly in her arms, his arms loosening their hold and hands sliding down away from her. She became aware of sounds around them and looked up to see the Slytherin Team landing close to them. They had also apparently heard her screams and watched the whole scene play out.

Some were standing with calculating looks on their faces and some were breaking into smirks and not so friendly grins. She slowly became aware that the robe her hands were clutching was green and silver. A creeping feeling of dread caused Ginny to loosen her hold and pull slowly back. She found herself staring into the enigmatic gray eyes of Draco Malfoy and heard herself take a sharp breath. "Get your filthy hands off me, Weasley," he snarled as he stood up, dumping her to the ground like a sack of manure and quickly stepped away. "Alright, you've had your nasty Gryffindor neck saved by a Slytherin…now get out of here!"

The start of tears began to swell in Ginny's eyes as she looked up at Draco but she quickly blinked them away. She lifted her chin and picked herself up never letting her eyes leave his gaze. Ginny turned on her heel and hair flying, strode away toward the castle without a backwards glance and missed the fleeting look that passed over Draco's face. He turned his gaze back to his snickering teammates who were beginning to mount their brooms and fly back over the stadium wall to resume practice. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other then glanced back at him with their eyebrows raised as they soared up. After they were out of sight, Draco chanced a look at Ginny's retreating form then turned slowly, mounted his broom, and returned to practice.

~*~*~*~*~

Ginny stalked to her thankfully empty dorm room and slammed the door before climbing on her bed and snapping shut the hangings. She pounded a fist into her pillow sending a few feathers into the air then bowed her head and let the tears come. When she was done with them, she opened the curtains and sat on the edge of her bed in the stillness. She could see the stadium from her window and observed the practice still in full swing. The lone seeker was flying in lazy circles above the pitch but then suddenly dove down below the stadium's rim. A few seconds later, Draco rose with his fist held high. He then opened his hand and Ginny saw a flicker of gold as the snitch sped away again.

There was no denying that Draco was a good seeker although he usually had bad luck against Harry. Ginny had been Gryffindor's seeker in her fourth year after Harry was banned from playing. While she had been decent in the position, her current status as chaser this year was much more to her liking and she already had five goals under her belt from the first game.

Ginny sighed and turned away from the window and heard a soft knock as her friend Hermione Granger hesitantly opened the door and stepped into the room. "Ginny? Luna told me that you looked pretty angry a little while ago. Everything alright?"

"You're not going to believe what happened," said Ginny rolling her eyes. She proceeded to tell Hermione a condensed version of her afternoon. As Ginny neared the end of her story, the tears welled up all over again to her consternation.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione sighed, reaching out a hand to Ginny's arm. "Of all the people…but I'm glad he did what he did. You could've been killed!"

"I know-I thought for sure I was going to be. I just feel so humiliated…that I actually kissed him before I knew it was him…" Ginny's voice trailed off. "I mean, we were sitting on the ground with our arms around each other and it seemed-"

"What?" interrupted Hermione, eyebrows raised. "Hang on, what do you mean `arms around each other'?"

"Well, after our landing, I kind of threw my arms back around him-pretty much crawled back into his lap actually," Ginny shook her head embarrassedly. "But I could swear that he put his arms back around me, too. And…I think he even asked if I was all right-that's odd, isn't it?" Ginny's forehead creased but then she shook her head again and went on. "Then I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him. Right after that, I noticed the Slytherins and that it had been Malfoy who had rescued me."

"So he actually acted like a decent person for a moment?" Hermione asked quietly in disbelief.

"Yeah, but then the rest of the team showed up and he was definitely himself again." Ginny's eyes cast down. "I just don't want to have to see him again after all this..."

"Well, unfortunately that's probably going to be very difficult-but maybe he'll avoid you, too." Hermione glanced at her watch. "Look, its almost time for dinner. Why don't you come on and meet Harry and Ron with me?"

"Thanks, but you go on. Save me a place-I'll be right there," Ginny said with a small smile and motioned Hermione on with her hand.

"Are you sure?"

Ginny nodded. "I'm fine-really. I just need a second."

"All right, then. See you in a bit." Hermione looked a bit skeptical at Ginny's reply but patted Ginny's arm softly and headed to the common room.

Ginny turned to the mirror, straightened her hair and cleaned her face from the evidence of her tears. As she looked in the mirror, an unbidden memory sprung up of Draco Malfoy pulling her onto his lap and holding her closer as they flew away from the graphorn. Ginny could still feel his muscles working to hold on to her and control the broom. She remembered his voice telling her she was safe in his arms and then demanding to know if she was all right. Ginny covered her eyes with her hands and then let them slide down her face and drop to her sides. She sighed and walked out the door to go to dinner.

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