AN: I disclaim everything except Hei, Aurek, Portia, and Romeo. The characters to JKR and the plot, how ever loosely to Joss Whedon.
Italics=Ginny's Thoughts
Bold=Draco's thoughts
Underline=Chronological Order
3 Years Prior
Pride.
Pride was all I had left. Pride was all he had taken from me. How could I have been so stupid? I trusted him with my heart and he broke it. Time and time again he broke it. Well this time, I am not going to take him back.
Ginny walked down the hall. It was the slow, deliberate walk of someone who had nowhere to go, and nowhere to be. Silence circled around her like a tight fitting glove, and not even Peeves dared to break it.
Pride.
She had no pride left. By tomorrow morning the entire school would know of Dean's infidelities. They would know of how he shamed her, yet she needed him to continue.
Well, not anymore. She didn't need anyone anymore. She didn't need Ron, who was too over protective. She didn't need Harry and Hermione, who were much too caught up in each other. Most of all, She didn't need Dean Thomas, who was 'secretly' screwing Lavender Brown in the Gryffindor common room right at that moment.
"Little Weasel in the woods," Pansy Parkinson's melodious voice interrupted her internal ranting.
"Little Slytherin by the dungeons stood," Her short black hair lay in sheets of ebony ,enviable by god and goddesses alike, around her shoulders. She stood leaning against and ancient tapestry, one foot propped on the head of a mermaid in it.
"Saw the Weasel sulking by, looking like a whore," Finishing off the first verse of her little song she began to grin like a maniac while whistling the next verse.
"Stuff it Parkinson. You are in no position to talk about me," The whistling faltered for a moment, but was quickly replaced with words.
"Screw me, Screw me, The Weasel said," She began to walk towards Ginny and her layered skirts fell back into place.
"Before Lavender gives Dean Thomas head," Twirling around in a circle her cranberry and green skirts were but a blur and soon Pansy stood directly behind Ginny.
"Little Weasel come and play, I can screw you in every way," The last part of the song was whispered into Ginny's ear as she let out a cry of outrage.
"Fuck you Parkinson!" The young redhead screeched. "Fuck you. Fuck Zabini. Fuck Dean Thomas. Most of all, FUCK THAT WHORE LAVENDER BROWN!" Ginny's outburst left her trembling with an unmistakable flush to her cheeks and Pansy Parkinson barely able to contain her glee.
"A little bit of tension associated with that topic Weasel Princess? You are using so many big words. Tut tut tut, What would your mother say?" The older girl asked, her voice oozing with mirth.
"Stop it! You all treat me like in a child," Ginny shouted walking over to the wall. "Don't you get it! The thing is, I'm not. 11. Any. More." Each of her words was emphasized with a punch on the flagstone wall. Her hand was left broken and bloody, but she didn't care. As she walked away Pansy remained silent quietly reevaluating her prior thoughts on the Weasley girl.
_______
"Bloody hell," That was all Ron could say as he sat on his bed with his head secured in his hands. Looking up at the anxious face of Harry, he could only shake his head.
"You…and her…and…she's your best friend…and…bloody hell," His thought stream was incoherent and came out in little more than a babble.
"Those are all the reasons that she can never know," Harry said in a quick scared voice. Putting his fist under Ron's chin, Harry made the other boy look at his face.
"You have to promise me that you will never tell her, It's the only way Ron," Harry took a step away from his best friend, and one towards the fireplace.
"If you tell her it will only break up our friendship. Do you really want to do that?" Harry's words may not have been true but they seemed to hit home with Ron.
"Well maybe if you told her how you felt about her then…" Ron's voice trailed off as Harry began to shake his head.
"No Ron, She can never know," Letting out a sigh Ron agreed.
"All right mate, if that is what you really want, I won't tell her," Ron let his shoulders sag as Harry whispered a quick thanks and scuttled out of the room. If only he knew Hermione felt the same way he did.
_______
"I don't want to start any rumors," Pansy said to Blaise as she walked into the dungeon common room. "But God has a sick sense of humor, and I have a feeling that when I die, he'll be laughing."
"You speak blasphemy," The dark toned boy said not bothering to look up from his article.
"It is one of the few things I can speak fluently," Pansy quipped sprawling onto the black leather sofa.
Draco Malfoy sauntered into the dimly lit common room, an icon of angelic beauty.
"Draco?" Pansy asked from her seat. "Have you ever seen beauty in a break down?"
"What are you rambling about now Pansy?" Draco's exasperated voice asked as he made his way over to the table where Blaise sat.
" You heard me the first time. Have you ever seen beauty in a break down?" Pansy slowly sat up on the couch and locked eyes with Draco. Hazel versus silver in a deadly battle.
"Why do you ask?" His mask was still up with his voice cold and cutting.
"Because I think I have just seen the most beautiful creature in the world. A vivacious fiery angel…" Pansy trailed off imagining Ginny Weasley.
"Let me guess," Draco began mockingly. "You ran into Weaslette?" Pansy gave a curt nod of her head and evil laugh escaped Draco's lips.
"I think if Pansy is so interested in this girl we should start another game," Blaise intoned humor lacing his words. The dreamy expression faded from Pansy's features and fear slowly crept into her eyes.
_______
"God Hermione, I feel so stupid!" Ginny shouted Pacing back and forth through the room of requirement.
"Love has a way of blinding even the sharpest minds. We don't look because we don't want to see. But once love is stripped away, we see the real person clearly. There revealed to us, with all their flaws, their foibles, and their secrets," Hermione said from her seat across the room as her quill madly scratched at a sheet of parchment.
"I never said I loved him," Ginny whispered resting her head against the wall.
"You never had to," Hermione said walk over to Ginny who was silently sobbing.
"It hurts, It hurts so bad," Ginny rasped between sobs.
"I know baby, I know. The thing is, the pain is eventually going to go away," The older girl pulled Ginny into a hug an let her cry on her pristine scarlet robe.
"Is there anything you can do to make the pain go away?" The red head asked her eyes hopeful. Hermione let out a small sigh and gave a curt nod of her head.
"Let me get the book real quick," Hermione slowly walked around the makeshift study room knowing that the book she needed would soon appear. Walking towards the back of the room she found what she was looking for. Anti-love potions.
True, they weren't exactly legal, but anything was better than watching Ginny suffer.
Quickly the older girl scanned the ingredients list of the first potion in the book. Nothing terribly hard to come by or brew. If all went well the potion would be finished by the week end.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Came Ginny's muffled question as her head lay down on the table.
"Yes and I think I have a solution if you can wait a few days…."
_______
Harry sat in the common room watching the fire slowly dwindle to ashes. This was the fifth night in a row Hermione was out much later than curfew.
So many things had happened in the past days.
Dean and Ginny had broken up leaving Ginny absolutely crushed as he moved onto Lavender Brown. Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini had broken up, not that he was one to follow the illustrious lives of Slytherins but the duel they had in the Great Hall was nearly impossible to miss.
Blaise didn't stand a chance against Pansy. All students of Hogwarts worry about getting those wretched black crystals from Blasie, but getting dueling crystals from Pansy was nothing less than a nightmare.
Ron had thankfully remained faithful to his words and Hermione remained clueless to the event that had happened prior that week.
Slowly the portrait door creaked open and the girl of Harry's dreams crept in cradling a bottle of a bright teal substance. She obviously didn't see him as she silently made her way up the girls' stair case and entered a dorm room that Harry knew for a fact wasn't hers.
_______
"Hermione, she's in the bathroom crying again! I don't know how much more I can take of this!" Portia, a short Italian girl with hair the same color tan as her skin said as she ran her finger through her dozens of braids.
"I have the solution right here. Stop fussing all of you. Now go to bed," Portia eyed the bottle with distrust as Hermione slowly made her way to the bathroom and slipped inside.
"Ginny," Hermione whispered to the sobbing girl shaking her shoulder.
"Ginny, I have the cure," The petite redhead looked up with gratitude etched across her face.
"Now you have to drink all of it and it will be working by morning," Hermione held out the bottle to the Ginny. It was quickly uncapped by her nimble hands and swallowed in a few quick chugs.
"You promise I will feel better?" The younger girl rasped her face a puffy red mess.
"I promise," Whispered Hermione.
_______
Ginny woke up shrieking in magically induced pain. An invisible dagger was tearing at the soft skin above her heart, but created no blood as it gouged into her again and again.
"By Merlin! What is it this time Ginny?" Portia ripped open Ginny's bed curtains and glared angrily at the red head until she saw the simple red lines appearing over Ginny's heart. An freckled white hand shot forward and pulled the Italian girl close to Ginny's face.
"Go get Hermione, tell her it is an emergency," The girl hissed out releasing Portia's night clothes as another spasm of pain racked her body.
Another one of Ginny's dorm mates appeared by the side of her bed compressing a cool rag upon the wound. The girl made a soft tutting noise before casting a simple cooling spell on the rag and adding more pressure to the affected area.
"Ginny, magic can't solve all problems, that's something our race needs to realize," The small blonde said as she cooled the rag again.
"Oh God, Ginny!" Hermione rushed to her friends bedside pushing the other girl out of the way.
"This was supposed to help," Ginny managed to gasp out amongst the pain. Holding the cool rag to her chest she let out another glass-shattering scream.
"It is helping dear," Hermione quickly began to explain. "It has to remove the feelings you didn't want to have anymore. I didn't think it meant literally."
"What can we do to help?" The blonde asked from over Hermione's shoulder.
"Just wait," The older girl said pressing the damp rag down as screams racked Ginny's body again.
"This is going to be a long night," Portia said exasperatedly, letting out a sigh she cast a silencing charm on the room as to not wake up the rest of the tower.
_______
Pulling out a hard canvas corset Pansy began to fiddle with the suede laces. It was an older corset in her collection and she wasn't completely sure that it fit anymore.
"Parkinson, go to sleep," The sleepy order was muffled by the thick forest green hangings that surrounded all Slytherin beds.
Pansy ignored the plea and whispered a spell to dim her candle light.
"Pansy, it is four in the morning and I have a strong desire to sleep. That desire can not be fulfilled until you extinguish that stupid candle!" Millicent stood with her hands on her hips slowly raising the degree of her voice with each spoken word.
"Shove it Millicent. I need to pick out an outfit to wear, an I'm not sure if I have any clean corsets that still fit me," Pansy mumbled putting the canvas corset on her bed and riffling through her drawers for another one.
"Oh the horror. Pansy Parkinson will have to wear a bra," Millicent sarcastically snapped as she made her way to her bed.
"I don't own a bra," Pansy said pulling out a corset made of cornflower blue silk.
"You disgust me," The brunet muttered snapping her velvet curtains closed.
"You guys know you love me!" Pansy shouted so that all the girls in the dorm could hear her, but was only met with a slipper bouncing off her head.
_______
Draco sat at the long wooden table especially reserved for Slytherins. He was holding an in-depth conversation with Romeo while carefully watching the door for any sign of Ginny Weasley or the golden trio. One or all of the afore mentioned people were usually eating breakfast by now.
"Which is why the veela race is moving to more muggle populated areas," Romeo finished with a huff of breath waiting for Draco to make some comment.
"Romeo my dear lad, you forget that if veelas wanted to feed more often they would just extend the radius at which their song in heard," Pansy said plopping down onto the bench next to Draco. Leaning over she gave him an affectionate peck on the cheek before spooning some porridge into a golden bowl.
"Draco love, if you touch the Weasley girl you are going to think Blaise got off easy," The raven haired girl whispered before returning to her breakfast.
Letting out a sigh he returned to his now cold muffin and scraped some butter across the top. Going against Pansy's will was like suicide, true she only had his and Blaise's knowledge of spells, hexes, and curses but she had the Goddess Hera on her side.
"You look lovely today," Draco said with a smirk running his hand across the exquisite green beading on her silver bodice.
"I know," His best friend stated with a half smile. "I woke up at four in the morning to get read."
Draco's had fell away from the interesting texture and met her hazel eyes. He understood with out her saying a word. The dreams were getting wore.
" Ebony and jade," The girl whispered picking at her green skirts.
_______
Harry sat in the common room with Ron. The taller boy was pacing back and forth across the old worn Persian rug, worry splayed across his face. At least half an hour ago a quite Asian Harry knew to be Hei awoke the two boys saying Ginny was in trouble and that Hermione was helping her.
They had been anxiously waiting in the common room ever since.
Ron was muttering quietly to himself leaving Harry only his thoughts for comfort. His thoughts weren't very comforting at all. No matter which way his mind strung the situation he thought might have occurred it all came back to the teal potion.
"You guys can come up now I said," Hei stood on the bottom step of the girls stair case waiting for the boys to walk over.
"How do you expect us to get up to the room?" Harry asked calmly while eyeing Ron who continued to pace.
"If you two come over here I can levitate you up," With a small nod of his head Harry pulled Ron over to the stair well with him where they were slowly floated up to dorm room Hermione had disappeared into earlier that day. Hei ran ahead and opened the door making the two boys glide over the doorstep before releasing them.
Ron sprinted over to his sister's bed and grasped her limp pale hand. Harry headed over to Hermione who was getting comforted by a small blonde girl, Aurek.
"Hermione, what happened," Harry whispered clasping her hands into his.
"I tried to help Ginny, and it didn't work," The brunet sobbed. "It didn't work."
I used to think pride was all about the money, the cars, the fame, and the glory. But lately I've been seeing it differently. Now I think pride is about finding that one thing you really care about, and knowing you would do anything to protect it. That one special thing that means more to you than anything else in the world. And when you find her, you fight for her. You risk it all, you put her in front of everything, your life, all of it. And maybe the stuff you do to help her isn't so clean. You know what? It doesn't matter. Because in your heart you know, that the juice is worth the squeeze. That's what pride is all about.
PROPS WHERE PROPS ARE NEEDED:
The Little Weasel In The Woods song is based off of a song called Little Bunny in the Woods, I don't know who the author is.
"The thing is, I'm not 11 {13} anymore," - Thirteen Going on Thirty
The conversation between Blaise and Pansy on Blasphemy was loosely based on some text from Tuck Everlasting.
Love has a way of blinding even the sharpest minds. We don't look because we don't want to see. But once love is stripped away, we see the real person clearly. There revealed to us, with all their flaws, their foibles, and their secrets," - Smallville
Draco's thoughts on pride are loosely based on Matthew's Moral Fiber speech in The Girl Next Door