Disclaimer: I don't own any of this except the plot.
A/N: SURPRISE!! An epilogue for all my wonderful reviewers! Special thanks to my beta, Aliya.
TWO WEEKS LATER
The potion that Draco was brewing to break into Snape's filing cabinet would be perfected in a matter of minutes. All he had to do was make sure that Snape wasn't in there when he snuck into his office. If Draco was caught he would be in big trouble. That was why he was doing the smart thing and sneaking into Snape's office after curfew. Draco knew that Snape never stayed in his office longer than he had to be. That meant that after curfew you would find Snape in his professor's quarters.
Draco's plan was flawless. Nothing could go wrong. He could easily perform the incantation he needed to get in the filing cabinet, he could have no problem opening Snape's office because he knew the incantation too, and the potion had been brewed perfectly. Before the stroke of midnight, he would know why that sneaky, conniving prat, Bryant, was expelled from Durmstrang. Draco, for one, could not wait.
*~*~*~*
Dear Ginny,
Meet me in the Astronomy Tower at midnight. I have something important to tell you.
Love,
Draco
Ginny sat in her dormitory, staring at the rather odd note she had received, via owl, from Draco. She had read the note at least ten times, wondering what on earth he had to tell her. She knew that he didn't want to break up with her. They had been hanging out a ton since their first date in Hogsmeade, and they got along great. What could he possibly want to tell her? Especially considering how late at night he had to tell her during normal waking hours. She was lucky that all of the girls in her dormitory were deep sleepers. Otherwise she would never be able to pull it off.
Ginny decided that she would go talk to Luna. As odd as her friend seemed to others, she could actually be incredibly helpful and insightful. Plus, sometimes she came up with ideas so strange it took her mind off what she was thinking about. It was helped her to talk to Luna, and that's why she was Luna's friend.
Ginny slowly wandered around the castle looking for her friend. She checked in the Ravenclaw Common Room, in the Great Hall, in the Astronomy Tower, and in the Library. She couldn't find Luna anywhere. After about twenty minutes of wandering the castle she turned in the direction of her dormitory.
As Ginny was approaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, a figure became more visible standing right outside of it. As she got closer, she realized that the figure belonged to none other than Draco. She snuck up quietly behind him and hugged him from behind. He turned around and hugged her back, kissing her on the top of the head.
"Waiting for me?" Ginny teased with a slight smile.
"No, actually, I wasn't. I was actually looking for Granger. Have you seen her?" Draco shot back with a smirk.
"Ha ha," she responded dryly before kissing him. "Now, was there something that you wanted?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you got my note. Did you?" he asked curiously.
"Yeah, I did. Why can't you just tell me now?" she inquired.
Because I don't know what it is yet, he answered mentally. Out loud he said, "I'll tell you later, I promise, but now I have to go," Draco informed her. "Sorry." he kissed her one last time, and then he was gone.
*~*~*~*
Later that night, Draco snuck out of his dormitory with a vial of potion and his wand. He was ready for this. All he wanted was to know why that scumbag had been expelled.
Draco crept through the dark, endless corridors of the dungeons. He soon arrived in front of Snape's office. He looked around quickly to make sure there was anyone watching him. If anyone knew that he knew how to get into Snape's office, there would be people begging him to know how. That's the best thing he needed because than it would get back to Snape. Then he would be in trouble.
Assured that there was no one around, Draco whipped out his wand and recited the spell that opened the office door. The door sprung open, and he entered quickly. He quietly closed the door behind him. He was safe. No one would catch him while he was actually in Snape's office. He'd just have to be careful when he was leaving.
Draco walked over to the filing cabinet that held all of the Slytherin records. In order to open the cabinet, you had to brew a voice changing potion and then use the spell that opened the cabinet. The voice changing potion made it so you could sound like anyone in the world. All you needed was a tiny bit of their saliva. That hadn't been hard for Draco to get. All he did was have tea with Snape one day, and he took Snape's cup when they were done. It was that simple. Snape never suspected a thing, or, if he did, he hadn't said anything to Draco. He was pretty sure Snape would have said something if he suspected anything.
Draco drank the potion and performed the spell. Even he was surprised at how much he sounded like Snape. He didn't think it would be that uncanny. The cabinet slid open right away. Perfect. He was almost there. All he had to do was find the right record. He found the P's and began flipping through them. Bryant's was the second one he looked at. Scanning what was written, Draco saw that every time he got detention or did something wrong, it was documented. This might take awhile, he thought. There seems to be a lot of problems with him.
After about ten minutes of reading Draco finally found what he was looking for. What he found surprised him so much he almost dropped the file. He had thought that Bryant had merely attacked another student more than once or something. That wasn't the case. Bryant was expelled for attacking a classmate and then attempting to rape her. Fortunately, another student had found them before Bryant could actually go through with it. Draco had known that Bryant was bad news, but he didn't think he was capable of that. It scared Draco to think that Ginny had practically been dating Bryant. She was lucky that she realized he wasn't very nice before something like that had happened to her. Draco couldn't believe that his girlfriend had been in danger of being raped.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and put the file back in the cabinet. He turned and walked out of the office, carefully closing the door behind him. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost time to meet Ginny. Right about then, he was wishing that he hadn't told her to meet him so soon after he found out. He wished he had waited until tomorrow.
While all of this was going through Draco's head, he had been heading towards the Astronomy Tower. Once he had calmed himself down a little, he entered the room and looked around. Ginny was sitting by one of the many windows, waiting for him. She turned and looked at him when he entered.
"You're late," she said flatly.
Draco looked at his watch again. 12:10. "I'm sorry. You'll probably understand in a minute," he began, and then he continued to spill the story about breaking into Snape's office and everything. "Bryant was expelled for assault of another student and-" He couldn't say it. He knew it would shake Ginny up.
"And?" Ginny prompted, somewhat impatiently.
"And attempted rape," he finished, voice wavering.
Ginny's eyes got wide and she gasped. "WHAT?" she yelled.
"I know. It shocked me too," Draco told her. "I almost dropped the file I was so surprised."
"Are you telling me that I went to a dance and hung out with a failed rapist?" she demanded, the fear evident in her voice. He nodded and pulled her into a hug. "Oh my God." Then she started crying.
"It's okay. You're fine. He didn't actually try anything. He's given up on you. Don't worry. I'll protect you. I promise, just stop crying," he murmured soothingly, while rubbing her back.
After awhile she pulled herself together. "I have to go back now before someone wakes up and realizes that I'm gone. Bye Draco," Ginny said with a shaky smile. She gave him a huge hug and as she was walking out they door, whispered, "I love you."
The door closed behind her, leaving a very surprised Draco in her wake. "I love you too," Draco said after his brain began to work again. He knew she was gone, but he also knew that she knew he loved her too. If she didn't, she wouldn't have had the courage to say that so early.
Draco smiled as he began walking toward the door. The night hadn't turned out so bad after all, but he couldn't wait until tomorrow. He couldn't wait to tell Ginny that he loved her too so she would be free of doubts. He had a feeling that tomorrow would be a very good day.
THE END
A/N: This is definitely the end this time. I just decided that I would tie up a few of the loose ends that I left with the other ending. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought.
-->