"Ginny! Ginny, come here!" Hermione's voice cut through the quiet of the common room.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked as she and her study partners, Zoë Pierceton, Bianca Duncan, Colin Creevey, and Michelle Blocks, all looked up.
"Hurry!" Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm. "Come on!"
Ginny stumbled behind her as Hermione pulled them up to the dorms. "Are you okay?"
"Oh Ginny," she gasped for breath, "I had to find you before anyone else did. Harry and Malfoy got in a huge fight during Hagrid's class today!"
"So? They've gotten in plenty of fights before."
"No! Listen! It was a real fight. They were rolling on the ground, just like Muggles!"
"Why?" Ginny frowned, unsure why she had been dragged away from her studies. She had skipped dinner just to study since her O.W.L.s were creeping closer, and Hermione knew how important the O.W.L.s were.
"Well, Malfoy was insulting Hagrid like he always does, but today Harry told him to shut his fat mouth or he was going to do it permanently, and Malfoy said that would be too bad because it would disappoint the youngest Weasley."
Ginny felt the blood leak out of her face. "No he did not."
Hermione nodded. "It shocked Harry. He looked at Malfoy and then called him a liar and Malfoy said he wasn't lying, that Harry could ask you, and then Harry jumped on him."
Ginny bit her bottom lip. "Did Ron hear?"
Hermione's mouth fell open. "Ginny! Harry blew up because he though Malfoy was lying!"
"Did Ron hear?"
"Well, no. I mean, he saw the fight of course, but I just told him they were arguing. I can't believe this." Hermione shook her head furiously. "His father is a Death Eater! His father is helping You Know Who try to kill Harry!"
"I never said I did kiss him."
"Well, did you?"
"It was one kiss," she defended herself. "And it was more than a month ago, so it's not like there is anything going on. Besides, I kissed Draco, not his father."
"What is your family going to say?"
"Hermione! It was a kiss! We didn't elope. They're not going to know, so calm down!"
"And what are you going to say when Harry asks?" she demanded.
"I'm going to roll my eyes and say `Really Harry, why would you believe Malfoy?' and hopefully, you're not going to say anything either!"
Hermione stopped pacing the room and sat down on the trunk at the foot of Ginny's bed. "You know, Harry loves you. You're like his sister. This really upset him."
"Great," Ginny rolled her eyes. "Just what I've always wanted. Another brother."
"Ginny!"
"Well!"
"Did you want Harry to like you as more than family?" Hermione asked carefully.
"No. I used to, but not any more."
"Sometimes I think he does," she told Ginny softly.
Ginny raised one eyebrow sharply. "You could have fooled me."
"You know, after that mess last year with Cho . . ."
"I really need to go study," Ginny said finally.
"Right," Hermione answered, staring blankly out the window. "And I won't say anything to Harry."
"Thanks," Ginny answered heading down the stairs.
Ginny managed to avoid being alone with Harry for over a week, and Malfoy seemed to have the same thing in mind; he refused to even look at Ginny. She had all but given up on telling him off, when he sauntered up to her table in the library and said in a low voice, "Can I talk to you, Weasley?"
Ginny ignored the high eyebrows and open mouthed stares from Luna, Colin, Zoë Huckerstein, and Bianca Duncan - all who had, of course, heard about Harry and Draco's fight - and followed him out into the hall. Her mind was turning angrily with nasty things to say, but her stomach was as loose and quivery as if she had swallowed the bowl of snakes they had studied with in Transfiguration. "What?" she managed to snap.
"Are you going to the dance with me?" he asked her, his blond hair falling into his eyes.
"What?" Ginny asked again, this time confused.
"The Yule Ball. It's in two weeks." His eyes looked like they were laughing at her but his face remained hard and blank.
"Sure, I'll go."
Something that resembled a smile tried to carve its way onto Malfoy's lips. "Good." Then he leaned forward and kissed her directly above her left eye.
When he left, Ginny slumped against the wall and rubbed her temples. What was she going to tell Harry and Ron and Hermione when they found out about this? And what was Malfoy's problem? How could he ignore her, kiss her, ignore her again, and then ask her to the dance? She took a deep breath and tried to recall if she had seen Malfoy with any girl's recently. She could think of none. She stood up and sucked in another mouthful of air. You need to study, she told herself firmly.
"Hey Ginny. There you are."
Her heart sank down to her toes as Harry called to her.
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