Forgiveness

CHAPTER 1 Sneaking Out

It didn't take long for Ginny Weasley to grow tired of the seemingly endless receiving line at Harry's graduation. The muscles in her cheeks ached from smiling, and she felt a bit ridiculous standing between Harry and Ron, with Hermione just on the other side, acting like she too had graduated. True, other 7^th year students had their girlfriends or boyfriends next to them, but no one was getting as much attention as Harry. Of course, just three weeks ago, he had defeated the Dark Lord - for good - and had already been offered a spot in the Auror training school's fall session.

Harry squeezed her hand enthusiastically as the tail end of her family moved on to congratulate Hermione. “I never thought I'd make it this far.”

Ginny nodded in agreement, and as her eyes scanned the room, she noticed Draco Malfoy, edging quietly out of the Great Hall. Ever since his father had died earlier in the year, he had been a different person. No longer did he sulk around with his two bodyguards at his side, but he spent much of his time alone. Ginny hadn't seen him sneer in ages; instead his face was always a hard mask, blank and unreadable. She had heard rumors that he was there, helping the Order in the very end, but she didn't know all the details, as she wasn't there when Harry took down the Dark Lord, and he wasn't too keen to talk about it either.

As more people shuffled forward, she made sure her best smile was plastered in place and began hugging people again, the teachers, the students, the families. Finally, after what felt like hours, she slipped out of Harry's grip. “I'm gonna run to the loo.”

“Okay,” he nodded, kissing her cheek. “Hurry back.”

The truth was, she had absolutely no intentions of coming back at all. She knew exactly what Harry wanted that night, and she wasn't quite sure she was ready to give it up. Harry was tempting, but being tempted to do something and actually doing it were two very different stories, at least in her book. Besides, she didn't know if she even wanted to lose her virginity to The Boy Who Lived. Twice.

She drew in a breath of cool air as she stepped into the empty entrance hall. She moved forward and pressed her nose against the window and glanced out, surveying the dark grounds and then pulled back to see the smudge her nose had left. The darkness had settled quickly over the grounds, even though it was technically summer, and Ginny could see the spotted lights from the stars above them, twinkling and watching her as if they knew her secrets and couldn't wait to see them unfold.

“Tired of being overshadowed?” a voice asked in the darkness.

Ginny's head swiveled towards the sound, and in the shadows, she could make out Draco Malfoy, sitting under a window.

“Something like that,” she replied easily, and without thinking, moved towards him, sitting at his side.

He looked at her with surprise, but said nothing.

“So why aren't you in there? That's your celebration.”

“Mother already left,” he shrugged, “but it feels too early for bed.”

Several moments of silence passed before she spoke again. “So what will you do when you leave here?” The silence between them was a comfortable one, the way she felt with her brothers, but never with Harry. If they were silent, something had to fill the void, especially when they were alone, so there was homework and Quidditch and a million other subjects to keep them from becoming uncomfortable. Truth be told, sometimes she appreciated silence. Silence was nice, sometimes, to just sit and be peaceful and calm, especially with all that had gone on this year.

“Not sure yet. I'll think about it for the summer and then decided.” There was another pause, and Ginny found herself fascinated by the way the moonlight reflected off his hair, giving him a halo. “And why aren't you in there?” he asked finally. “It's your boy's big day.”

“Oh.” She tried to keep her expression from dropping.

“You know . . . it's just . . .”

“Just what?”

“He's with his friends,” she finished lamely, not wanting to reveal the real reason.

“Why do I get the feeling there's more to it than that?”

“Well, there is.”

“You didn't look like you were having a row,” he commented dryly.

“We're not,” she answered, smoothing the front of her robes. “But I don't really want to talk about it.”

Draco eyed her and the corners of his lips began to twitch upward. “Potter trying to get you in bed?”

Ginny looked at him with her mouth gaping. “How-” then she stopped. “I said I don't want to talk about it!”

“So what do you want to talk about?”

Ginny shrugged. “I don't know. I just don't want to go back in there.”

A laugh escaped his lips. “Well, come on then, Weasley.”

Ginny glanced towards the still shut oak doors of the Great Hall. She could hear the happy voices filtering into the entrance hall, and she wanted no part of it. Without another though, she stood to her feet. “Right then.”

She followed him down to the dungeons, where he forced her into the shadows and muttered something to the wall. The wall slid open and Draco stuck his head in. “All clear.” He grabbed Ginny's wrist and led her into the Slytherin common room.

“What are we doing here?” she hissed. “I don't fancy getting caught!”

“Come on!” Draco rolled his eyes. “You're the one sneaking out of the Great Hall.”

They headed up a winding stair case and Draco stopped again to mutter another password to a large portrait, and when it swung open, she saw the Head Boy's private quarters. They were exactly like Hermione's, with the large bed, the desk, the two comfortable chairs, and a fireplace, except his room was done in the green and silver colors of Slytherin instead of red and gold.

“You know,” she said, glancing around and cracking a smile, “just because I didn't want to shag Potter doesn't mean I want to shag you.”

Draco smirked and opened his bureau. “That's not why I brought you up here.” He pulled out a tall bottle filled with a bright red liquid and two small silver goblets.

“Is that-”

“Firewhiskey?” he finished. “Yeah. Let's celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?” she glanced at him suspiciously. Was he doing this to get back at Harry? Or was he as bored as she was, and she was simply worrying too much? Draco had never been exactly straight out mean to her, but he had never been her friend, or even acquaintance, either.

“Would you calm down, Weasley?” Draco snorted as he filled the two glasses. “You're the one who left your boyfriend! Besides, don't you think if I wanted you, I'd just ask?”

Ginny gaped at him. “I, I, I'm sorry.” She accepted the small goblet now steaming with Firewhiskey, sniffed it and tossed it back. An immediate burn filled Ginny's throat and spread to her stomach and then through her veins. She nearly fell off her chair choking.

When she caught her breath, she saw Draco shaking with silent laughter. “I'm so glad you find my near death experience amusing,” she grumbled.

“Come on Weasley!” he gasped with laughter. “You've never had Firewhiskey before?”

“Obviously not, Malfoy,” she retorted, pouring another shot into her cup. She watched with narrowed eyes as he emptied his goblet in one smooth gulp and refilled it. She realized with some strange sense of satisfaction that it was the first time she'd seen him smile all year.

“You can call me Draco,” he told her.

“Then you can call me Ginny.”

“Right, Ginny.” He held up his goblet. “Here's to . . . you and Potter and lots of children . . . once you decide to shag him!”

“I am not drinking to that!”

Draco snorted. “Then what?”

“How about to . . . Harry not trying to shag me?” Her face turned crimson the moment she spoke, but Draco smiled.

“I can drink to that.”

By the time Ginny had downed her fourth shot of the night and was staring over the top of the fifth, she had confessed to Draco more than she had ever told one single person.

“So, why exactly are you dating Potter?” he asked after listening to Ginny's progressively drunker monologue.

“I don't know,” she answered, giggling at her slurred words. “Because everyone expects me to. Because mum approves and I would expect she's already got my bloody wedding dress picked out.”

“So?” he demanded.

“So, I don't know.” She sighed and stood to her feet. “Merlin! It's hot in here!” She unbuttoned her purple blouse and tossed it to the floor, kicking off her shoes and then her socks.

“Weasley, what in the bloody hell are you doing?” he demanded, shooting to his feet and shoving the shirt back at her.

“Calm down,” she told him flippantly. “I've got other clothes on! And you're supposed to be calling me Ginny.”

“Right,” he nodded, sitting back down and tipping back the contents of his goblet, watching as she adjusted the straps of her gray tank top.

“Sorry if I told you too much,” she groaned, downing another drink. “This makes my tongue loose.”

“I don't mind. It's been a while since I've really talked to anyone.”

“But I did all the talking.”

Draco shrugged. “So what do you want me to talk about?”

“Anything,” she waved, listening to the faint footsteps and voices go by this room. “Like how I'm gonna get out of here without getting caught!”

Another wicked smile lit his face. “Guess you'll have to wait until they go to bed.”

She let out a laugh that turned into a hiccup. “Harry'll be thrilled!”

“Now you don't have to worry about him trying to shag you.”

“Ha ha,” she rolled her eyes and fastened her hair into a messy bun. “That's so funny.”

“So what have you got against Potter anyways?”

“Nothing obviously. I'm dating him, aren't I?”

“Is he bad in bed?”

“I dunno,” she slurred, amused that she was talking to Draco Malfoy about her non existent sex life. “I guess I'm just not ready.”

“Not ready?” His eyebrows shot up so high they disappeared underneath his hair. “Don't tell me you're a virgin. Let me guess. You're saving yourself for marriage.”

“Yes, yes,” she retorted dismissively, finishing her fifth shot, pouring a sixth and downing that one also.

“Slow down!” he demanded, snatching the bottle. “I don't want to have to explain how Potter's girlfriend got sick in my room!”

“Merlin! It's hot in here!” she gasped. “Do you have shorts or something I could borrow?”

Draco watched with unashamed interest as she began to undo her trousers.

“Come on, Draco! Please?”

“Fine.” He opened his trunk and tossed her a pair of dark green boxers.

She caught them with one hand and held them up for inspection. “Are these . . . silk?”

“So?” he demanded, his defenses high.

“So I've never met anyone who actually wears silk knickers! At least, no one that I know of.”

“They're boxer shorts, not knickers! Besides, do you go around asking blokes what kind they wear?”

“Well no.” She shrugged. “Turn around. I can't change with you watching.”

Draco raised an eyebrow, but complied and when he turned back around, Ginny was laying on the edge of his bed.

“Tell me about yourself Draco,” she requested sleepily. “I practically told you my life story.”

Draco eyed the girl stretched across his bed, dressed in his underwear, with her eyes half closed, and her slurred words. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me why you were so mean to us for such a long time and now you're not.”

Draco stared at her for several minutes, trying to come up with an answer, but before he spoke, he realized her breathing was even and steady. He took one more shot of Firewhiskey and then put up the glasses, the bottle, piled her clothes on an empty chair and reached across her for the spare pillow.

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Hope you guys like the longer (at least for me) chapters. Thanks so much for the reviews; I just adore reviews. Next update should be Wednesday! xoxoxoxox

CHAPTER 2 The Morning After

When Ginny's eyes fluttered open, the room was dark and silent, with only a faint glow still coming from the fireplace embers. She blinked and rubbed her head, nearly gagging at the horrible taste in her mouth as she glanced around the room and tried to figure out where she was. Then she saw Draco, asleep in his chair and her eyes shot wide open. She scrambled for her wand and performed a refreshing spell on herself. Oh Merlin! What am I going to tell Harry?

She looked around the room, but her clothes were no where. “Draco,” she hissed desperately. “Where are my clothes?”

“Um?” he asked, groaning.

“Wake up!”

“What are you doing?”

“Where are my clothes?”

“I put them in the chair,” he muttered, standing up. “It's barely 3 a.m.!”

“Harry's gonna be worried! And they're not in the chair!”

Draco rolled his eyes and lay down on his bed. “The house elves probably took them to be cleaned.”

“I thought elves couldn't have clothes,” she mused, momentarily confused.

“How do you think your clothes get clean?” he snorted. “You just can't hand it to them directly.”

“But I need to go!”

“How can you even be awake?” he groaned. “You drank enough to put Hagrid down!”

“I know,” she sighed, sitting down next to him. “I feel awful.”

“Look,” he grunted, sitting up. “Just go back to sleep. We'll get up at 6 and sneak you back into your own bed.”

“But I can't go back to my bed!”

“Why not?”

“What will I tell Harry? He's probably wondering where I am!”

Draco raised an eyebrow and was tempted to tell her that it wasn't his problem. Instead he heaved another sigh and climbed out of bed. “Take this,” he commanded, handing her a small vile from his drawer. “What about your friend . . . Luna? Can she cover for you?”

“What is this?”

“A hangover potion. Just take it.”

Ginny uncapped the bottle and took a small sip. “I think Luna will help me. She's the one who's been coming up with like 50 reason's a day why I shouldn't shag Harry!”

“Good. Then go back to sleep.” Draco shoved her to the far side of the bed and laid back down on top of the blankets with his back to her.

Ginny stared at his back, but before she could say anything, the potion took effect and she had fallen asleep.

***

“Ginny! Wake up!”

Her eyes fluttered open and Draco was staring down at her.

“Come on. It's 6.”

She was still tired, but felt immensely better than she had 3 hours ago. “Are my clothes back yet?”

“No,” he shook his blond bed head, “but you can wear my robe.”

“You better stay here,” she told him as she slipped his warm robe around her. “If anyone is awake it'll be easier to explain why I'm up than why both of us are.”

Draco watched as she pulled her shoes on. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Think anyone will wonder why I'm wearing Slytherin robes?” On impulse she reached out and hugged Draco, and was slightly surprised when he hugged back. “Thanks. This is the most fun I've had in a while.”

“Then we'll have to do it again.”
Ginny just nodded, thinking it would be impossible, since they were leaving the school tomorrow morning. She followed him out of his room and down to the common room.

“Good luck,” he told her, a smirk on his face. He leaned forward as if was going to hug her again, and then stopped.

“Thanks,” Ginny whispered, stepping into the cold hall. As tempted as she was to turn around, she forced herself to keep walking towards the Ravenclaw common room. She couldn't figure out Draco Malfoy. Of course, she had been far too gone last night to do any real figuring, but, none the less, she was going to chalk him up with the Endless, and the Garden of Eden and any other great mystery that wizarding kind had yet to solve. She stopped at a turn in the hall, and whispered the Ravenclaw password and watched as the tapestry there rolled itself up. She darted into the empty common room and then down the long hall towards Luna's room. Thankfully, everyone was still asleep, so she dove into Luna's bed, and yanked the curtains shut.

“May I ask what you're doing?” Luna demanded sleepily as Ginny slid under the blanket and kicked off her shoes.

“I need to hide,” Ginny told her.

“Is he that mad?”

“Who?”

“Harry.”

“Oh. That's not where I was.”'

Luna sat up and tugged the blanket's down. “Why are you wearing a Slytherin robe?”

“Oh. I forgot to take it off.”

“Explain please!”

“But I'm tired!” Ginny whined.

“So was I,” Luna whined back. “And then you woke me up!”

Ginny groaned. “I left that dumb ceremony early and ran into Draco Malfoy.”

Luna's already wide eyes opened even larger.

“Well, we were talking, and he sort of figured out that I was hiding from Harry. Anyways, I ended up drinking a lot of Firewhiskey and passing out, and here I am.”

“Passing out where?”

“Erm . . . in Draco's room.”

“So, you didn't shag Harry, but . . .”

“No! Nothing like that. I don't even know him. I was just hiding out.”

Luna looked back at Ginny. “Are those silk?”

Ginny began to giggle. “Yes. It was so bloody hot in there that Draco gave me these to wear!”

“You're on a first name basis now, are you?”

Ginny pouted. “Please cover for me! I'm going to tell Harry I was with you all night.”

“Right. But how are you going to avoid him tonight?”

“I don't know. I'll think of something.”

***

Several hours later Ginny was trudging back across the castle, this time dressed in Luna's clothes and dreading facing Harry. She had decided that she was going to tell him the truth. Well, not all of the truth, but part of it at least. As she climbed through the portrait hole, she saw Harry stretched out on a couch, his eyes closed.

Ginny took a deep breath and tip toed forward, leaning down to kiss his nose. “Hey,” she whispered as his eyes opened.

“Hey.” He sat up. “What happened?”

She didn't even have to try to achieve the sheepish expression that crossed her face. “I got trashed,” she admitted. “We drank a lot of Firewhiskey and I passed out with Luna. I'm sorry. I was . . . scared. I don't think I'm ready for that, you know. I guess I was hiding.”

Harry looked mildly offended and sat up.

Ginny's stomach took a dive into her legs.

“Why didn't you tell me then?” Harry asked. “I thought, I mean, you never said, so I just assumed . . .”

Ginny smiled. This was exactly why she fancied Harry. He was never anything less than a gentleman. So why was it then, that when she had dozed off in Luna's bed, her dreams had been filled with Draco Malfoy?

“So how did Luna get Firewhiskey?” Harry mused, scooting back so Ginny could sit down on the couch.

Ginny wrinkled her nose and groaned. “From someone in Ravenclaw, I guess.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Well,” she giggled, “after the first shot it wasn't so bad, but I felt like crap when I woke up.”

“Fell better now?” he asked, glancing up as Hermione entered the common room.

“Yeah, I got some hangover potion.”

“Hangover potion?” Hermione asked, curling up in a chair and raising her eyebrow. “So that's what you were doing last night?”

Ginny and Hermione finally went upstairs to shower before breakfast since Ron still hadn't emerged from his bed.

“No big night?” Hermione asked with a small smile on her face as Ginny pulled off Luna's clothes.

Ginny's eyebrows shot up.

“Come on. It was a bit obvious you know.”

“What was obvious?”

“That Harry wanted,” Hermione's voice dropped, “to shag you.”

“Did Ron notice?”

“No,” she snorted. “Harry's still standing, isn't he? Besides, I don't know where Ron was. Off with some of his other mates, I assume.”

Ginny quickly pulled the shower curtains closed around her, eager to shut out Hermione's knowing smile. But as the hot water poured down around her, it wasn't Harry or the end of the war or even the looming summer that filled her head, but instead it was the way the moonlight had given Draco a halo, and the way it had felt to wake up pressed into Draco Malfoy.

***

The train ride home was the same as any other trip on the Hogwarts Express, but this time Ginny felt a strange emptiness growing inside her chest. For the first time - ever - when she returned to school in a few months, her brother would not be there, nor would Harry or Hermione. It was a strange feeling. Part of her was sad, knowing that she would be without her family next term, and as her family was huge, the moments when she had been away from them were few and far between. But, it would be the first time she didn't have to live in the shadow of the trio. Not that she did, really. It wasn't like she tried to spend all her time with them, but there was something thrilling, some sort of freedom that seemed to be lurking.

She stared blankly out the window, watching as the hills rolled by and trying to absorb the new feelings creeping up inside of her.

“What about you Ginny?” Harry's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“What?” she asked, turning to him.

“This summer,” he smiled. “Ron's moving in and Hermione's coming to visit, so what about you?”

Ginny frowned. “I don't know what mum would say about that.”

“But you've stayed there before.”

“I know. But the Order was always there.”

“And you weren't dating then,” Ron added helpfully.

Harry leaned back against the seat. “Oh. Right.”

Ginny could feel his disappointment as the conversation between the trio picked up and moved on, but it was true. She would be a nutter to even consider asking her mum about even going to see Harry unsupervised. Of course, her mum adored Harry and was thrilled when she'd discovered the two of them holding hands in the garden the summer before. But, asking to stay at Harry's - even if Ron was there - was a sure sentence to a long conversation with her mum and dad and maybe a few of her brothers about a witch's duty and virtue and chastity and other embarrassing subjects. Never mind that Ron was the only virgin left among her brothers, and she could even be sure of that since he too had apparently gone missing on graduation night.

Ginny let out a sigh and stood to her feet. “I'll be right back.” She slipped into the corridor and headed for the loo. She stood there, in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. Momentarily, she wondered how she would look with blond highlights and so on impulse, she lifted her wand to her hair and muttered the incantation Lavender had taught her. Not bad. It wasn't the platinum color she had planned for, but that was probably a good thing. It was more of a strawberry blond, and subtle enough that her mum probably wouldn't notice.

With a final look in the mirror, she unlocked the door and stepped back out into the hall, but before she took two steps, a pair of hands shot out and tugged her into the boy's loo.

“What are you doing?” Ginny hissed as Draco locked the door.

He smirked and propped himself against the counter. She wondered if he practiced these poses in front of a mirror, because he looked so damn good doing them and she was sure he knew it. “I've got something for you. I kind of assumed if I just marched into your compartment I'd raise too many questions.”

Ginny felt herself smiling. “Oh really?”

“Yeah. Plus I never told you goodbye, did I?”

In the tiny proximity of the restroom, they were standing so close together their robes were touching.

“Here.” He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a palm sized glass orb. “It's charmed to be unbreakable.”

“Is this . . .” She held the orb up and watched as it quickly turned black and began to fill with pinpoints of light.

Draco raised his wand and muttered “Nox.”

The loo went completely dark for a moment and then the orb began to glow, casing tiny dots of light all over. It was as if they were standing in the middle of the Milky Way.

“Like it?”

“I love it!” Ginny breathed. “It's beautiful!”

“Well, after you spent half the night telling me how much you liked Astronomy, I figured you'd like this too.” Draco pulled out his wand again and said, “Lumos.”

“I did not,” she giggled, blinking at the bright light.

“You did too.”

“Well, thank you,” she told him, reluctant to put the hypnotizing sphere away.

“I guess you should get back before they send out a search party,” he told her.

“I guess.”

They stood awkwardly, avoiding each other's gaze.

“So maybe I'll see you soon,” Draco said finally.

Ginny glanced up. “You should owl me. Just send it to the Burrow. I'll be there all summer.”

A smile began to etch into the lines of his lips. “Right.” In one quick and unexpected move, Draco had engulfed her in a hug.

She hugged back, thinking she'd be a fool not to. Even if she did have a boyfriend, Draco Malfoy was delicious eye candy, and his body, well, it didn't exactly feel unpleasant as she found herself pressed into it. When they parted, she stood on her toes and impulsively kissed him on the cheek. “Don't forget.” It's a friendly type of kiss. Like I'd give to Ron or Hermione or Colin or Luna or -

“I won't.” He glanced at the door. “I'll make sure it's clear.”

She watched as Draco stuck his head into the corridor.

“All clear.”

“Bye,” she said quietly, slipping out.

“I like your hair.”

She stopped mid-stride and turned to face him. “Thanks.”

There was barely a lull in the trio's conversation as she re entered the compartment and took her place next to Harry. He never said a word about her hair.

~~~~~~~~~~

Now, if you are interested, you can go to my LJ & read a SERIOUS spoiler for this story in my most recent entry. My LJ is here, but don't say I didn't warn you. It's a big spoiler. There's also another D+G story there called Secrets, which is finished & some snippits of other things I'm working on, including a reworked, darker, creepier version of Mine. But if you go to my LJ, you have to comment. I LOVE comments!

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Thanks a bunch to everyone who has reviewed. I've said it before, I love reviews! Anyways, I forget to mention last chapter about the “Endless”. The Endless belong to Neil Gaiman. There are not really gods, so it's difficult to explain. The one that randomly pops up in this story is Dream aka Lord Morpheus. In reality he doesn't actually interfere with the lives of mortals unless he is to gain something, but I've tweaked him for my own personal use. And really, he doesn't have anything to do with the story, I just wanted to include him!

CHAPTER 3 Summer

When the train pulled into the station, Ginny had a clear view of the platform. She easily spotted her family - mum, dad, Fred, and Bill - by their red hair, surrounded by Tonks, Lupin, Moody, and . . . Narcissa Malfoy? Why in the world was her mum talking to Draco's mum?

“Come on Gin.” Harry was nearly out the door.

Ginny glanced back over her shoulder, but the surge of Hogwarts students on the platform blocked her view.

When she reached her family, she was engulfed in hugs, but she could see Draco and his mum out of the corner of her eye only a few feet away. She tried to catch his eye, but he didn't even glance at the large group of Weasley's to his left.

“Ready to apparate Gin?” Fred asked as he busily shrunk everyone's packages.

“Yup,” she nodded.

“It was lovely to see you again Molly,” she heard Narcissa tell her mum. “We'll have to get together for tea now that all this war business is over.”

Despite her soft tone and the rumors of Draco assisting the Order, even Ron had a look of vague skepticism on his face as his mum hugged Narcissa.

“What was that all about?” Ron demanded as they popped back into the Burrow.

“What?” Mrs. Weasley looked at him innocently.

“You and Malfoy's mum!”

“Oh. Well, she's really quite lovely. We were in school together you know. And now that her husband's gone . . . well, she's more like the person I used to know.”

Ginny eyed her mum, unable to imagine two more different women. Her mum was on the shorter side and warm and open and friendly. She would have taken Harry in on a permanent basis if Dumbledore and Sirius hadn't refused her, and she had always been the same way with the gaggle of friends belonging to her brothers. Her mum could be astonishingly fierce when she wanted to be as well. Plus, her mum had the same unruly shock of red hair that made the Weasley's stand out in a crowd. Draco's mum was tall and thin and elegant with her blond hair always swept up to perfection, and every time Ginny had seen her, with the exception of today, she seemed cold and distant. Ginny was willing to bet her entire savings account the woman had never worn and apron or healed a bloodied knee or elbow with mummy kisses before in her life.

After a heavy dinner and promises from Harry to come back for meals each night, Harry and Hermione apparated back to their houses. Ginny faked tiredness and made her way up the stairs to her cozy childhood room. She shut off the lights, stripped out of her traveling clothes, and hesitated only for a moment before pulling on the silk boxers she hadn't bothered to return to Draco. Reaching into the pocket of her travel robe, she pulled out the galaxy glass from Draco and lit it up. Sleep didn't come easily, but thoughts of Draco did.

***

The summer passed with a monotony Ginny found comforting after the chaos of the previous summers. She was the only child living at home now, and she thought she would enjoy it more, but she found herself staying with Fred and George, because they always made her laugh, and they never left her alone with Harry. Ron officially moved in with Harry and was working with her dad at the ministry. Hermione had practically moved in with the two of them and was heading up an activist group for the humane treatment of all magical creatures, even though, much to her dismay, Harry and Ron had procured a new house elf.

“We're nice to her,” Ron informed Hermione dismissively, when she began to sputter with disbelief.

Ginny resumed her job from the previous summers as the only employee in her brother's wildly successful joke shop. She worked Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 in the morning until 6 or so in the evening. The shop was insanely busy over the summer, but she liked it that way. The hustle and bustle of stocking and inventory and selling kept her head clear. Since she worked, she didn't have to listen to her mum constantly hint that she expected Ginny and Harry to be pretty much married by the time she graduated next year, and she didn't have to spend every free second with Harry, as Harry wasn't doing much for the summer since his Auror training didn't begin until the fall.

Harry did drop by the shop occasionally, and she saw him nearly every evening at dinner since none of the males in her family could figure out the cooking thing, even though they had house elves.

Several weeks into vacation, Ginny was sitting on the swing in her mum's garden, watching the sun drop behind the trees with Harry. He was chatting on and on about the Quidditch match he had gone to with Ron, but she wasn't listening. She was going to have to do something, as it wasn't very fair to Harry to be his girlfriend, and spend all her time thinking about Draco Malfoy. She had tried to stop thinking about him; after all, she had no real reason to do so. So he had given her a gift, what of it? But she couldn't. And it wasn't that she didn't care about Harry, because she did. In fact, she loved him, but it was in the same way she loved her brothers. Besides, she was more than a bit disappointed that Draco hadn't owled yet like he said he would, and that her mum and his mum hadn't arranged tea. Of course, she couldn't act interested because she refused to raise suspicions.

“Hello? Gin?” Harry was saying.

“Huh?”

Harry was staring at her. “Are you okay? I was wondering if you wanted to go see Wood play next weekend.”

“Wood?”

“Oliver.”

“Oh right. I'm fine,” she shook her head. “Sorry.”

“What's going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know. You've been . . . different for the past few weeks.”

Here's your chance, she thought. Here's your chance to tell him how you feel. “Harry, you know I love you,” she blurted out.

His eyes shot open in surprise. “Um.”

“I mean, I love you like I love Ron.”
“Oh right.” He looked immensely relieved. “Me, me too! I mean, I love your family, they're like my family.”

Ginny nodded and took a deep breath. “Do you sometimes feel like you're dating your sister?”

Harry was silent for so long that Ginny began to fumble for excuses.

“I think you're right,” he finally interrupted her. “But I do care about you.”

“I know that. But am I really what you want?”

“What do you mean?”

I mean that one hug from Draco Malfoy lit me up like a fire cracker, but not even the first time me and you got tipsy on wine and had a snog fest on the couch did that to me. “I mean, you're about to start Auror training. I'm going back to Hogwarts. Things are going to be different, and I don't want to hold you back.” To her ears, the last words fell to the ground and lay there, pitiful and pathetic.

Harry smiled. “Look, I know what you mean. The only reason I went on about that whole shagging thing is because of Seamus. I didn't really want to. Not because of you,” he added hurriedly, “but like you said, it'd be like shagging my sister.”

Ginny laughed. “We won't act like prats around each other now, will we?”

“Of course not. I can't jeopardize my chances of eating your mum's cooking!”

***

Ginny was on hands and knees, unpacking more boxes of her brother's skiving snackboxes, when the door charm rang. She sighed inwardly as it was nearly her lunch break and called, “I'll be right there!”

She stood and dusted off her Muggle style denim trousers and Chuddley Canon's t-shirt she had nicked from Ron, and as she stood, she came face to face with Draco Malfoy.

“You work here?” he drawled, raising his eyebrows.

“Um, yeah,” she nodded, thinking that in the past month, he looked taller. “The pay's good.”

“Really?”

“Uh huh.” She dusted off her shirt again. “So what are you doing here?”

“Came to see George, actually.” His smile made her stomach flip.

“George?”

“We're working on . . . a business deal.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yup. As soon as Malfoy Holdings get out of the Ministry's lock up, your brother's business is going to go international.”

Ginny was impressed. Since when did Fred and George associate with Draco? “George isn't here,” she told him. “He's at lunch, but he should be back in about 20 minutes.”

Draco nodded and glanced around. “Do you get a lunch?”

“When George gets back.”

“Can I take you then? There's that new French café around the corner.”

A smile crept across her face. “That would be great.”

When George returned from his lunch, he and Draco arranged to meet later that afternoon, and then Ginny headed out with Draco.

The café was neatly situated in a corner of Diagon Alley with roof top tables charmed to repel all the weather.

“So tell me about his business deal,” Ginny asked after they had ordered.

Draco immediately launched into a long explanation of how since his father had died, the Ministry had taken temporary control of the family business to weed out and illegal activities. Apparently, Draco's law wizard was part of the same firm as her brother's law wizard, and Draco had heard a rumor that the Weasley brothers were looking to go international. Since Malfoy Holdings had connections - as in building and employees - world wide, he approached George and so far the deal was looking quite profitable for all parties involved.

“Of course,” Draco finished up as their food arrived, “the Ministry is full of bastards, so it's looking like another year before they're finished.”

“And what are you going to do until then?” Ginny asked, nibbling at the pastry before her.

“Don't know,” he told her, picking up his drink. “But it's not like I'm in a hurry to start working!”

***

After that, Draco came to take Ginny to lunch every single day that she worked, and she began to wonder why it had taken her so long to become friends with him. He continually made her laugh and when he hugged her, the currents that ran through her were undeniable. Who would have ever guessed that Draco Malfoy had a wicked sense of humor?

Fred and George harassed her about Draco continually, as they were the only family members who knew she wasn't seeing Harry anymore. Fred didn't particularly like it, reminding her incessantly about Draco's father and the rumors and speculation, and the way Draco had acted in school. Finally, Ginny asked calmly, “If he's so horrible, why are you planning a business deal with him?”

“It's not him,” he defended his words. “It's his company.”

“Exactly. You've got a lot more to lose if this doesn't work out than I do!”

George laughed. “She's got you there.”

Fred frowned into the shelf he was stocking and muttered, “Fine then.”

When Draco came for lunch that day, Fred straightened up, marched over to Draco and stuck out his hand.

Draco glanced at it warily and gingerly shook it.

“I just want to let you know,” her brother announced, “that if you hurt my sister, I will kill you. I will send you to Charlie and he can feed you to his dragons. I will be ten thousand times more pissed if you hurt her than if you screw us.”

Draco's expression remained cool, but he raised an eyebrow. “Well, since I'm plan on neither, I guess we can both rest easy.”

Ginny was turning red with mortification, but George was rocking with silent laughter.

“I am so, so sorry!” she exclaimed when she had left the shop with Draco. “I swear, he's so overprotective.”

Draco let out a laugh that sounded more like a snort. “They don't have anything to worry about.”

The last weeks of Ginny's summer had sped by all too quickly. It was the last Saturday of the summer, her last day working, as the next morning she would be speeding back to Hogwarts, when the door swung open. She stood to her feet, expecting to see Draco.

“Hey Gin. I was wondering if I could take you to lunch,” Harry said with a smile.

If he noticed the slight drop in her expression, he didn't say a word. “Um . . .” She couldn't tell him no without explaining why, and telling someone about Draco when there was nothing between them, and not even a guarantee that he would come in today - although he had every single other day she'd been working - just seemed ridiculous. “Sure.”

“Great. When's your lunch?”

She thought quickly. Usually, Fred went, then George, and then she went last. “Now,” she told him, forcing a smile. “We can go now. I'll just switch with Fred.”

George eyed her with curiosity in his eyes and interest on the tip of his tongue as she asked Fred to switch with her. Fred, however, couldn't have been more pleased if someone had just come in and spent a thousand galleons.

“That would be fine,” he said with a smile. “Have fun. Take extra time if you need it!”

She chose the Leaky Cauldron, knowing the chances of Draco coming in there were improbably low.

Harry chatted obliviously over their sandwiches, telling her about his training, which would start in a week, the Quidditch games he and Ron attended nearly every weekend, Hermione's progress with her activist group, and Ginny listened, but her heart wasn't in it. She felt quite mean, no paying attention to Harry who had been her friend since her first year of school, and instead thinking about Draco, who had been a big prat to her since her very first year of school.

When her lunch hour was up, he walked her back to the store. He hugged her outside, and wished her luck at school, and as she entered the shop, she heard him say, “Malfoy.”

Ginny turned around and watched through the window.

“Potter.”

She couldn't make out all the words, but she heard Harry telling him that he had just taken her to lunch. Draco nodded and glanced up at her with unreadable eyes, told Harry goodbye and disappeared into the crowd.

Each time the door opened, she hoped it was him, but it wasn't. When the shop closed for the evening, she felt like crying. Logically, there was no reason to cry. Draco had become some sort of friend over the summer, but nothing more. Whether she told him goodbye or not was really insignificant, but it still didn't change the fact that she had wanted to see him, had wanted to tell her goodbye. George squeezed her hand, while Fred looked as smug as he did pleased, and the three of them apparated to the Burrow for her last dinner at home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N For everyone who read my spoiler in my LJ, this is coming in chapter 8 or 9, I think!

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A/N thanks again for the reviews. I have to credit a couple people here. I never thought of Draco being a professor until I read Mynuet's Professor Draco series (so hot! Go read them!), so that belongs to her. Also, the line “Professor Death Eater” I read in Burgosdamasco's super While You Were Sleeping. Hope ya like this!

CHAPTER 4 Fall Again

The train ride to Hogwarts was almost liberating, in that Ginny could do nearly whatever she wanted, and not worry about Ron babying her or Hermione reminding her of the rules, or Harry having his arm wrapped suffocatingly tight around her. But there was nothing she wanted to do. She sat staring out the window, while Luna, Colin, Bianca, and Zoë chatted happily around her. She was acting ridiculous, she knew that, but she was still upset Draco hadn't even told her goodbye. Some friend.

“Ginny, baby, are you okay?” Zoë drawled.

“Huh? Yeah, I'm fine.” Ginny forced a smile at the staring group. And I will be. His loss, not mine!

“Did you and Harry have a row?”

“Harry?”

“You know, your brother's mate. Easy on the eyes, black hair, scar, defeated You Know Who. Seems to fancy you quite a bit,” Zoë raised an eyebrow.

“Oh.” Ginny shook her head. “We broke up at the beginning of the summer.”

“What?” Zoë shrieked.

“You did?” Bianca gasped.

“Why?” Luna questioned, suspicion in her eyes.
“Good,” Colin smiled. “Now you can date me!”

Ginny snorted. “Similar to you, he's more like my brother than my boyfriend. He agreed. We're better friends.”

“That's it?” Bianca groaned. “No messy rows? No loud scream fests?

“Nope, just a change of status.”

The dinner that night tasted better than ever, and Ginny was determined to make the most of her last year at school. After this, she'd be expected to find a job and behave like an adult. She'd done decently well on her O.W.L.s, and she assumed she'd do just as well on her N.E.W.T.s, but to be honest, she didn't really care. She wasn't going to “Pull a Weasley” and vacate school like the twins, but she was working with Madam Hooch to get on with a Quidditch Team; any team would do actually as long as she could afford to pay enough bills to live on her own. Oh, her mum would just die when she found out. Her mum didn't even know that she and Harry had broken up.

When Dumbledore stood up, he announced that Professor Snape had been selected as the new DaDa teacher. Ginny nearly fell off her seat with shock, and she wasn't the only one. Next to her Colin let out a groan. “But I liked that class!”

“Who's gonna be our potions instruction then?” Bianca whispered. “I don't see anyone new up there.”

“This means, of course,” Dumbledore continued, “that he have a new potions professor. However, he will not be arriving until later tonight, so you will be meeting him as you have your classes this week.”

Zoë scrambled for her schedule. “We'll meet him soon. We have double Potions first thing tomorrow.”

“Are you serious?” Ginny moaned. “What if he's as horrible as Snape?”

“You better hope not,” Colin said, staring at his schedule. “Cause we have Potions from 8 to10, and then DaDa from 10:15 till 12:15.”

Despite the heavy schedule ahead, Ginny slept well that night, drawing the thick curtains around her bed and lighting her Galaxy Globe, letting it glow as she slept.

The next morning was full of the usual hustle and bustle to get ready, the girls flipping on the lights well before 6 am. Resolute to start her final school year on a good note, Ginny joined her friends in front of the long mirror and applied several cosmetic charms to ensure flawless skin. Her highlights had faded over the summer so she reapplied them and then had Zoë perform a shortening charm to her school skirt.

“Now do this,” Zoë instructed as Ginny buttoned up the standard white blouse they wore. “Here.” She undid the top three buttons and loosened Ginny's tie. “Perfect.”

“I dunno.” Ginny looked down and saw directly into her cleavage. “You can see what little I have.”

“It looks great,” she assured her. “Honestly.”

“How about like this?” she offered a compromise, buttoning an additional button.

“It does,” Bianca assured her. “Standing here I can just see a tiny bit, plus you've got your tie on.”

Ginny looked in the mirror for confirmation. “Right.” She began to pull on her black and pink Converse trainers and Zoë groaned.

“Do you have to wear those?”

“What's wrong with them?”

“Well, you look sexy, but the shoes . . .”

“I love these shoes,” she defended herself. “I got them at a Muggle shop in London.”

“I know they're Muggle shoes. My entire family is made up of Muggles. Try something like this,” Zoë said, digging through her trunk and producing four pairs of shoes, each one taller and strappier than the next.

Ginny eyeballed them warily. “No way. I'll be on my arse before breakfast.”

“She looks cute,” Bianca interjected, pulling on her Gryffindor robe. “Kind of like the way Colin's brother's been dressing. That Muggle punk look.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow. “In that case . . .”

Bianca giggled, and said feebly, “I like it.”

Ginny kicked off her shoes and stuck her feet into a pair of plain green flip flops, Muggle shoes, as well, and then pulled her robes on and headed for the door. “Let's go see if our new professor is at breakfast.”

They scanned the head table, but no new faces were there.

“Oh well,” Colin shrugged. “We'll find out in 20 minutes.”

They made their way to the dungeons after breakfast, meeting up with the handful of other seventh years who had made it into N.E.W.T.s level Potions. Ginny took her seat in the second row and tugged at her skirt, which stopped around mid thigh. “How do you keep this thing down?” she hissed at Zoë who was already flirting with Gable Pyrnne.

“You just keep your knees together,” Bianca advised.

Ginny settled for pulling her robes across her legs, and was so caught up in covering herself, she didn't notice when the class went silent, until she felt Bianca's elbow in her ribs. Ginny's head shot up and she saw Draco Malfoy standing at the front of the room.

“I will be your Potions instructor for this year,” he said smoothly, making no introductions. “I have been instructed to inform you to address me as Professor Malfoy.” He glanced around the classroom, his expression uninterested even as his eyes swept over Ginny and her indecent amount of bare leg. He gave them the standard “N.E.W.T.s are important and serious” lecture before assigning them to work in pairs on an Invisibility Potion, which was the most complicated thing Ginny had done so far.

“What is he doing here?” Bianca whispered as they measured the ground salamander tongue.

“Teaching, I guess,” Ginny whispered back. She had tried catching his eye, but gave up when he didn't even show any signs of recognizing her. So much for not letting him get to me.

Luna crept around the cauldron that she was sharing with Colin and asked, “Did you know?”

Ginny shook her head quickly, hoping to avoid any questions.

“Why would you know?” Bianca demanded, accidentally spilling the rookstone weed to the floor.

From behind them, Draco cleared his throat and glanced pointedly at the mess.

“Sorry . . . Professor,” Ginny told him eyeing him innocently before diving down to scoop up the rookstone.

She and Bianca finished their potion with no real disasters, and although it wasn't quite the shade of orange it was supposed to be, Draco held up their vial and nodded curtly. “Not perfect, but acceptable.”
“He is hot!” Zoë whispered, detaching herself from Gable as he took their vial to Draco.

“He's okay,” Ginny shrugged, watching Gable strut to the front. “Easy on the eyes. Isn't that what you said about Harry?”

“Not him,” Zoë hissed. “Professor Malfoy.”

Ginny's eyes shot to her friend. “Are you serious?”

“Yes!”

“You didn't think so last year.”

“Last year he was a prat!”

“Who says he's changed?”

The bell rang before they could have any further words on the subject, and Ginny scrambled to get her bag, eager to get out of the room and away from Draco, since he obviously was no longer interested in her.

“Ms. Weasley. May I have a word?” Draco's voice cut across the noise.

Ginny froze in her tracks, while Zoë made some sort of jealous noise in the back of her throat. “Go on,” she hissed. “Put in a good word for me.”

Draco waited until the room was empty before speaking. “Surprised to see me?”

For a moment, Ginny watching him silently, taking in the pale hair and silver eyes, and yes, the gorgeous face and matching body. “Yes.”

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing. Just surprised.”

“I was going to tell you on Saturday, but . . .”

“But what?” Her voice was a bit crosser than she meant for it to be.
He shrugged. “I saw Potter and he said he'd already taken you to lunch.”

“So you couldn't even come say hi? Or bye?”

“I didn't want to interrupt you and your boyfriend.”

Ginny frowned and then began to laugh.

“What?”

“I didn't tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“We broke up. At the beginning of the summer.”

It was Draco's turn to be surprised, although he only let it register for a second before pulling his expression to blankness again. “You did?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

A small smile curled over his lips. “You better hurry. Snape won't excuse you.”

“Right. See you.” She dashed out of the room and up the stairs, gasping for breath as she slid into her desk in DaDa seconds before Snape bustled into the room. She felt better already.

The week passed with surprised speed, and despite being loaded to the hilt with homework, they managed to find time to gossip. Nearly every girl in the school was talking about how gorgeous Professor Malfoy was, which Ginny found slightly amusing since no one had mentioned that the previous year; at least, they hadn't mentioned that in front of her. And everyone, males included, was talking about the change in Professor Snape. He really knew a lot of interesting and useful stuff about DaDa, and they spent most of the class period practicing it. So far, Ginny hadn't heard of anyone receiving detention from him or losing points.

“It's because You Know Who is gone,” some said. “He was being controlled by him.”

“It's just a ploy to catch us off guard,” others insisted.

Ginny thought that although the change was unusual, it was a welcome one. This was the job Snape had wanted for years, and she considered privately, he was probably as relieved as the rest of them that Voldemort was gone.

During the week, Draco ate his meals at the high table with the rest of the staff, but on the weekend, he met her outside to have lunch. They had barely spoken to each other all week, but they had exchanged private smiles and glances, and so when Ginny and Draco sat down underneath a tree by the lake, the other students were gaping.

“What the hell?” Draco muttered, casting a dark look around.

Ginny giggled. “Well, you are our professor now.”

“So?” he demanded. “I'm one bloody year older than the rest of you!”

“But now,” she teased, “you have so much authority!”

“Right,” he snorted. “All I got was a lecture on why I shouldn't abuse my position!”

“Since you're the professor now all the girls keep talking about you, you know.”

“What do they call me?” he grunted. “Professor Death Eater?”

“Hot, dreamy, gorgeous.”

For the first time ever, Ginny saw the pink tinge of blush pass over his cheeks. “Shut it!” he warned as she giggled.

When she stopped laughing, she asked, “Why did you take this job?”

He shrugged. “What else was I going to do?”

“I'm sure there are a lot of other things,” she pressed. “You know, like shopping and dining out and getting your hair done and your weekly manicure -”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing,” she grinned at him. “Nothing at all.”

Draco frowned. “I didn't know you and Potter had broken up, but let's just say that you may have had something to do with it.”

“Really?” Her heart fluttered in her chest and she felt ridiculously pleased.

“Really. Now let's change the subject.”

The weeks flew by, and despite the heavy studying and literal mountains of homework, mixed in with Quidditch practice in the most disgusting fall weather she had ever seen and gossip sessions with Zoë and Bianca about Ginny's non existent relationship with Draco, she managed to spend time with Draco. They hadn't progressed any further than the friends-who-spent-a-lot-of-time-together, but that was fine with Ginny. She really did simply enjoy his company. It wasn't like her short lived relationship with Dean Thomas in which they never spoke, just snogged, nor was it like her relationship with Michael Corner, in which they argued continually, or even like her too relaxed relationship with Harry.

Not that she didn't think about kissing Draco. She did, and quite often. Even though it was obvious to the other students and professors, she and Draco had agreed to some silent truce to keep themselves out of trouble with Dumbledore and out of any major gossip.

Draco helped her with her homework, continually offering to let her skive off Potions assignments.

“I have to do it. What if someone finds out?” she argued, tucking her feet underneath her as she sat hunched over her stacks of parchment. They were in the empty potions dungeon, Ginny trying to study and Draco talking incessantly.

“It's not like I keep them anyways. Besides, I only grade people on how much I like them,” he smirked.

“Oh really!” she exclaimed. “In that case there better not be anyone else who gets O's on all their papers like I do!” She hadn't meant to say those words out loud, and could feel a very visible blush rushing to her cheeks.

“There's not,” Draco answered, his voice lower than she was used to.

Her head shot up to find Draco's face only inches from her own. She opened her mouth to speak, to laugh, to do anything to break the heaviest silence she had ever experienced, but before she could, Draco's lips were pressed ever so lightly against her own.

She tried to enjoy the moment, tried to savor the absolute thrill of kissing Draco Malfoy and memorize the lines of burning static as they zigzagged through her body but she couldn't. All she could do was remember to kiss back. When he pulled his lips away, she was disappointed. She wanted more, wanted to wrap her arms around him and truly taste him. Without thinking, she brought her fingers to her lips, wanting to savor his touch.

He watched her with a small smile on his face and Ginny shoved her parchment aside and pulled him to her. “I need more.”

Draco pulled away long enough to wave his wand at the classroom door and slam it shut. His mouth flew back to hers and she felt it open, pulling hers with it, and then the lemony sweet taste of the candy he had popped in his mouth minutes ago.

When they finally came up for air Ginny glanced at the clock on the wall. “It's almost curfew,” she said softly.

Draco nodded.

She gathered her books, her fingers itching to relive all the spots Draco had kissed.

“Hey Gin?”

“Yeah?” she asked, standing to her feet.

“Will you be my date for the Costume Ball?”

The corners of her mouth curled upward. “Are teachers allowed to have student dates?”

“I already checked it out with the powers that be,” he replied.

“Then yes. I'd love to.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm putting another spoiler in my LJ right now, so scurry over there & comment in my LJ too. I will love you forever!

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A/N: Again, thanks so much to everyone who reviews. I keep trying to respond to all of them, but I'm getting a bit behind. As per request, I tried to add a bit of Professor Malfoy's general attitude & interactions with the students. Someone mentioned that they didn't care about Ginny's shoes (last chapter) but this story is not as dark and angsty as my other ones. This is my fun story! Hope you like it!

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CHAPTER 5 Halloween, Hickeys, and Holidays

The Costume Ball hadn't been held for nearly 10 years. Ginny vaguely recalled hearing Charlie and maybe Bill talk about it, but she wasn't quite sure what the whole thing was about. Most wizards didn't dress up and beg for candy on Halloween since it was easy enough to obtain ones own sweets. When Dumbledore announced that the Costume Ball would be held on Halloween, Zoë was absolutely thrilled.

“What's so exciting?” Bianca asked. “Dressing up like ancient witches isn't so much fun. Those bloody corsets are painful!”

“Corset's are sexy,” Zoë dismissed her.

“I don't know many sexy ancient witches,” Ginny giggled.

“Who's dressing up like some old witch?” Zoë demanded.

Colin chuckled. “Muggles do Halloween a little differently.”

Zoë nodded. “Think sexy.”

Zoë's costume, if you could call it that, turned out to be something she kept calling a cheerleader. She wore the tiniest pleated, pink skirt Ginny had ever seen and a matching pink tank top that she had used a severing charm on so that it showed a good six inches of flesh on her stomach. She had managed to have the word “Hogwarts” embroidered in white across the chest. She wore plain white trainers and carried two big things called pom poms, also in pink and white, and had her hair parted into two ponytails, one on each side of her head.

“Are you sure Muggles wear that?” Bianca asked doubtfully. “It's almost indecent.”

“They do,” Zoë said airily. “And they cheer for things like American football and basketball.”
“What's basketball?” Ginny asked warily.

“Never mind. They're sports.”

“How do they cheer?”

“Like this.” Zoë proceeded to jump around the room, waving her pom poms in the air and flashing her pink knickers more than once.

“Please don't do that at the Ball,” Bianca begged, her eyes bulging and her cheeks flushing pink. “Your knickers were showing.”

“These are hot pants,” she informed them. “Not knickers.”

To no one's surprise, Bianca was going to the Ball as a princess complete with a tiara, jewels, and a huge sparkling gown. “I didn't think Professor's could have student dates.”

“Me neither,” Ginny giggled. “I guess he asked Dumbledore though. Dumbledore stopped me in the hall last week and said that we should exercise our best judgment with each other.”

“What does that mean?” Bianca asked, pinning up her hair.

“I think it means that we shouldn't get too much gossip going.”

“Yeah,” Zoë added. “No shagging on the potions tables or anything.”

Ginny snorted. “No one has to worry about that!”

Zoë's date, Gable, was wearing only a pair of long, brightly flowered swimming shorts, and carrying a long board that people kept having to duck to avoid getting hit with, and he seemed to know immediately what Zoë's costume was.

Ginny had decided to go as a pirate, and was beginning to regret that she had allowed Zoë to help her with the costume. The black skirt was cut jaggedly around the hem, exposing quite a bit of thigh, and the black button down top was tight and form fitting, the buttons stopping right at her cleavage. The top had gold buttons and cuff links to match her gold hoop earrings, and the heeled shoes had gold buckles. The sword swinging at her side looked incredibly real, so Ginny had decided not to ask where Zoë had procured it. On her head she wore a wide brimmed hat, and on the upper right hand side of her chest, just below her shoulder, Zoë had learned a spell to cast a temporary tattoo of sorts, showing a vicious skull and crossbones. Honestly, Ginny was reminded of the Dark Mark, and was glad it didn't show.

Ginny met Draco at the bottom of the main staircase and as she descended, Bianca hissed in her ear, “No wonder you fancy him. Look how sexy he is!”

And he was sexy. His blond hair seemed to hang longer tonight and his eyes glittered a deeper, shinier silver. He wore a pair of 19^th century style velvet maroon knee length breeches with a matching jacket, white stockings and black shoes. Underneath the jacket was a long sleeved white shirt, the kind that had ruffles coming out the front of the jacket and from beneath the cuffs. He smiled as he caught her eye and she could see fangs; two perfect white fangs, gleaming in the candlelight and looking as wickedly delectable as he did.

“Oh my dear sweet Circe,” Zoë let out a small growl. “He looks so effing good.”

Draco caught her arm at the bottom of the stairs and whispered in her ear, “Good evening to you, my lady.”

They spent most of the evening dancing, but Ginny quite honestly couldn't wait to get him alone and try out his fangs.

“That's not really how vampires look,” Luna informed Ginny while she waited for Draco to refill her drink. “They're really not attractive at all.”

Ginny knew that too, but at the moment, Draco was radiating sexiness and she wanted a piece.

“Shall we make an escape?” he growled into her ear as they danced in small circles. “We've got about an hour before midnight.”

“Definitely,” she breathed.

“I'm supposed to make a patrol of the gardens,” he informed her. “So let's go.”

They made their way to the gardens, which had been heated with warming charms, and were full of seasonal orange and black flowers. After Draco chased out several snogging couples and deducted more points than was really necessary, they settled on a bench hidden within a small circle of shrubs.

Draco pulled Ginny into his lap and drove his lips into hers. She gasped into his mouth as she felt the sharpness of his fangs graze her lips.

“You look amazing,” he told her, his warm breath passing over her neck.

“So do you,” she answered, capturing his lips again.

His kisses moved from her lips to her ears and from her ears to her neck, sending spasm after spasm down her spine despite the warm air.

They parted reluctantly when the great clock chimed midnight and used the walk back to the castle to chase more snogging couples inside. He gave her one last kiss on the hand and whispered goodnight, then watched as she ascended the stairs to the Gryffindor tower.

“Looks like someone had a good night,” Zoë shrieked gleefully as Ginny entered their room.

Ginny dropped back on her bed. “I had a great night!”

“We can tell,” Bianca smiled.

“By the massive hickey on your neck!” Zoë finished.

Ginny slapped both hands to her neck. “Are you serious?”

Bianca nodded.

Ginny ran for the mirror and let out a groan.

Zoë couldn't stop giggling. “I guess those fangs really did work.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “I don't think he actually bit me!”

The next morning, Bianca performed a covering spell on Ginny's neck, so that the hickey was only noticeable if someone tried to find it.

***

When the Holidays rolled around Ginny was in near panic over her amount of homework. She had managed to fall behind because she spent so much of her free time with Draco, and what time she wasn't with him, she was usually on the Quidditch pitch, practicing for the upcoming game against Slytherin. She was still considering, however, doing like the rest of her friends, and using the Holidays as a mini vacation from homework. After all, if she went back to the Burrow without her books, there was nothing anyone could do about it.

But three days before the term ended, she received and owl from her mum that was three pages long.

I can't believe you did not let us know that you and Harry were no longer seeing each other. What happened? You two are a perfect match. You know we wanted Harry as a member of our family. Imagine my surprise when Ron mentioned that Harry and Hermione had gone on a date. Were you even planning on letting us know?

And on and on it went.

That settles it, Ginny thought grimly. She was going to stay at school for the Holidays and finish her homework. She wrote back to her mum, not even acknowledging her breakup, but instead listing the homework she still had to complete.

• 12 inches of parchment on squaring potions

• 15 inches of parchment on the complications involved in human transfiguration

• 12 inches of parchment of the squared deflector spell

• 10 inches of parchment on the care of dragons in their natural habitat

• complete sky chart for month of December

• 6 inches of parchment on the movements of the binary stars systems in the constellation Libra

• 10 inches of parchment on the advanced blood loss prevention charm

At the end of her letter, she chewed on her quill before deciding to add a quick post script. Harry and I decided not to say anything because we're still good friends.

On the last day of the term, Draco announced that he needed to see Ms. Cantrella, Mr. Creevey, and Ms. Weasley after class. Zoë and Colin looked at Ginny nervously, and she shrugged slightly. She had no idea what he wanted.

The dismissal bell rang, and several students lagged behind, curious.

“Five points from each of you!” Draco snapped, sending them scurrying out the door.

He looked at the three of them. “I just need to see Ginny. This just made it less obvious.”

Zoë giggled and pulled Colin out the door.

“Yes Professor?” Ginny asked in her most sultry voice, siding up to him.

“McGonagall said you were staying for the Holidays.” He wrapped his arms around her waist.

Ginny nodded. “I have a mountain of homework to finish.”

“Good,” he smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the nose. “Then I'll stay too.”

“Then you can help me with my studies!”

Ginny let herself sleep in until noon the next day, figuring a good night's sleep would help her with her studies as much as anything. She showered, rushed down to the Great Hall to grab some fruit, and then met Draco in the library. They were the only people in there, as even Madame Pince was gone for Christmas. Ginny tackled her charms homework first while Draco graded the stack of quizzes he had so generously popped on his students the day before.

“Crap. This is crap. This one too. Horrible. Awful. Ugh, this is the worst one yet. Hm, okay. Hideous. Acceptable.” Draco used nearly an entire bottle of red ink on the first stack of papers. Ginny found it amusing, the way he treated the other students. During class, he never gave her any special treatments, docking points when she talked too much or let her potions burn. He was hard on all the students, and the first years were particularly petrified of him. Draco as he was around Ginny was not the same person as Professor Malfoy. Professor Malfoy loved to dock points and assign stacks of homework and hand out massive detentions, which he always let Filtch fulfill. The students complained that Snape had been nicer than Draco was.

By dinner time, Ginny had finished the charms assignment, the sky chart, the dragons paper, and started on the deflector spell, while Draco had graded all the quizzes, browsed three Quidditch books, and looked over Ginny's completed homework.

“I think we should take a break until tomorrow,” Draco announced, rubbing his stomach. “It's dinner time.”

Ginny glanced down, pleased at the amount of work she had accomplished and surprised at how much time had passed.

Somehow, after dinner, Ginny found herself in Draco's room. She knew where it was, but she hadn't been inside it at all. It was slightly larger than his Head Boy room from the previous year with an adjacent private bathroom. She settled into one of the large green chairs in front of the fireplace, and he took the one opposite her. They talked about Quidditch and Draco's plans for his company and their mums and having brothers versus being a single child. The warmth of the fire, her full stomach, and a long day of studying made Ginny drowsy and relaxed, and just as she began to slip into a light sleep, she felt Draco's lips brush her forehead.

She opened her eyes to see him leaning over her. “Ready to go back to your room?”

“Not yet.” She held out her arms and pulled Draco to her.

Draco encircled his arms around her, letting his hands rub across her back and kissing her forehead.

“Mm,” she mumbled. “That feels good.”

“Here, lay down,” he instructed. “I'll rub your back before you go to bed.”

Ginny complied, lying on her stomach with her face in Draco's pillow. He climbed on top of her, straddling her upper thighs and using perfect pressure as his massaged her back.

The next day was more of the same, homework, a break for snowball fights, homework, dinner, and then a back rub. This time Draco pushed her shirt up, rubbing his hands across her bare skin. His hands stroked down her sides, until she was sure he was attempting to feel her breasts.

“Draco?” she said, after several minutes.

“Hm?” he asked a bit too quickly.

“You know, we can just, um, you can . . .” Unable to spit out the words, she rolled over quickly, and before she could lose her nerve, pulled her shirt over her head. “There.”

For about two seconds, Ginny thought his eyes would bulge from his head, and then he regained his composure. Their eyes met for a second, and then he focused on her chest. His hands rose to cup her breast, still hidden beneath the light blue bra and his face dropped to her cleavage, leaving a trail of tiny kisses. He brought his fingers down, allowing them to slip beneath the silky material and Ginny couldn't help herself, she let out a tiny gasp.

Suddenly Draco stopped and withdrew his hands. “You know, I didn't bring you down here just for . . . this. We don't have to do anything.” He straightened himself up.

“But I want to,” Ginny said, her voice lower than she had planned on.

Draco eyed her for a moment before asking, “Are you sure? I don't want you to do anything you don't want to.”

“I'm sure,” she answered, pulling him close.

His kisses were hotter this time, nipping at her neck and ears, and then moving down as he fumbled with the clasp of her bra until she reached behind and undid it for him. He placed his hands on her stomach and slowly brought them upward, first his fingers extending over her breasts, then his palms, cupping them, and then bringing his mouth to them. First he kissed her, then placed his mouth over her rigid nipple, stroking it with his tongue and eliciting soft moans from Ginny.

She reached up as he explored her and unbuttoned his shirt, giving in to some primal need to feel his skin against her own. His chest was wonderfully smooth and solid, and Ginny did the same to him, tasting his skin and closing her mouth around his pink nipples and becoming fascinated with his sexy hipbones.

She stayed in his room until well after curfew, and when she looked at the clock she let out a groan. “Filtch is going to murder me!”

“I'll walk you back,” Draco offered, not looking in the least bit as if he was ready to let her go.
“That'll make things worse,” she sighed. “Then Dumbledore will be having a talk with us. We told him we wouldn't do this!”

“Then stay here,” he suggested.

“What?”

“Stay in here. Who's going to notice? You said you were the only girl in your dorm.”

“I am.” Ginny bit her lip. “What if we get caught?”

“Who's going to catch us? The only teachers here are me and Dumbledore and Professor Sprout.”

“That's right,” Ginny smiled mischievously. “If Professor Malfoy says it's okay for me to be out of bed, then it must be!”

She woke beneath his arm the next morning, and snuggled against him for a moment before sliding out of the bed. She was pulling on her clothes when his eyes opened.

“Where are you going?” he mumbled.

“To shower. I'll be back.”

“I want to go to.”

“Sorry,” she smiled.

“Shower in here,” he murmured.

“Why? So you can walk in?”

“Yes,” he pouted.

“I'll be back,” she told him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “See you at breakfast?”

“No. I'm gonna stay here until you come back!”

Ginny giggled. “Is someone not getting their way?”

“Yes!”

Ginny slipped out into the hall and made her way across the castle until she reached the empty Prefects bathroom. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching, as she wasn't a Prefect and said the password. She loved this bathroom. Hermione had told her about it and given her the password, and so Ginny used it whenever she could. It had two tubs, one that was deep and large enough to swim in, and one that was about the size of a Muggle hottub. That was her favorite. She could sit in it and stretch out with the thick perfumed bubbles and just relax. She quickly stripped of her clothes, looked in the mirror to admire the three hickeys on her chest, and then, ignoring the mirror's disappointed sighs, she turned on the taps to the tub and climbed in.

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A/N Thanks for the reviews; I apologize that I haven't been able to answer all of them. Sorry this chapter to so long (for me at least) to update. There's a lot going on right now, like homework and regular work and family and all that. I hope you like this one. This 1^st part was just updated, so forgive me if you find typos!

CHAPTER 6 Giving Up

The weekend before the students left for the Holidays, Zoë informed Ginny that there was an impromptu get together on the 7^th floor at 11:30.

“Get together?” Ginny asked suspiciously.

“You know, just a few people, some butterbeer, nothing big.”

When they entered the Room of Requirement at 11:45, it was packed. Sixth and seventh year students spilled from every corner, the hallway had been silent, but the room was filled with the loud strands of the Weird Sisters, and although Ginny could see no butterbeer, she spotted plenty of bottles of Firewhiskey and what looked like Muggle liquor.

“Oh gods,” Ginny groaned. “We're gonna get so busted.”

Bianca nodded. “Who did this?”

Zoë's eyes twinkled. “Well, I may have had something to do with it.” She gathered up three drinks and handed them out. “Shots?”

“What is this?” Bianca demanded.

“It's called tequila. Muggles drink it.”

Ginny sniffed it and sighed. “Right.”

“To . . . us,” Zoë smiled as her current Slytherin, Alexander wrapped his arm around her waist.

Ginny tipped the amber liquid down her throat and lost her breath with the stinging pain. “This,” she gasped when she caught her breath, “is so disgusting!”

Thirty minutes later Ginny was still trying to have a good time. She'd taken two more shots and the heat of the room was beginning to close in on her. Zoë and Alexander were snogging on a couch and Bianca was dancing wildly with Colin and several of his friends. She missed Draco. She'd be having fun if he was here, she decided.

Slowly she crept out of the room, praying feverishly that she didn't run into Filtch or that blasted Ms. Norris. She crept back into the Gryffindor tower and changed into a skirt and tank top, and then threw her robe over her clothes. Her breath reeked of the Muggle liquor, and again she prayed she wouldn't be caught.

She stayed in the shadows as she crept down to the dungeons, hiding once behind a suit of armor when the Bloody Baron floated by. When she reached Draco's door, she let out a noisy rush of air and whispered the password.

Draco was sitting in his chair reading a book and looked up, startled, when she walked in.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Ginny nodded. “Come with me.”

“Where?”

“We're having a . . . party.”

He narrowed his silver eyes. “You sound funny.”

“Muggle alcohol,” she giggled.

Draco shook his head. “I can't go to a party! Dumbledore'll sacrifice me if I go and don't stop it. Especially with Muggle alcohol!”

“Please,” Ginny pouted. “Everyone else is dancing and snogging and I'm all alone!”

“I can't.” He tugged her into his lap. “You stay here.”

She pressed kisses into his neck. “It's in the Room of Requirement. If you need a way out, it'll come.”

“You're going to get me in trouble,” he sighed, his eyes closing as she wrapped her mouth around his ear.

“Come on,” she whispered heavily.

They made it back to the 7^th floor with no problem and a wave of silence passed over the room when Draco and Ginny entered. Drinks suddenly started disappearing and the music dropped.

Draco shot a quick look at Ginny and then muttered, “Nobody saw me. I am not here!” His tone carried the threat of the words he didn't say - no one could tell on him without exposing their self.

There was a smattering of nervous laughter and slowly the drinks reappeared and the noise level increased.

Draco didn't drink anything, but that didn't stop him from handing Ginny glass after glass of strange, burning liquors. Somewhere around the vicinity of 2 a.m., Ginny found herself on a couch, kissing a reluctant Draco.

“Gin, come on! Just come back to my room with me!” he hissed, his face blank but his eyes darting around the hazy room nervously.

“Uh uh,” she hiccupped. “I want you now.”

“As tempting as you are, I am not going to snog you in front of my students!”

“Please,” she sulked.

“Nope,” he shook his head. “Can't.”

Ginny tried to argue, but out of no where, a wave of nausea hit her.

“Gin? Are you okay?”

She had barely managed to shake her head before Draco was rushing her from the room.

“Are you going to throw up?” he asked, his voice laced with repulsion.

Ginny shook her head and tried to convince her body to cooperate. “I'm gonna go to bed,” she muttered weakly.

“Are you sure?” Draco asked hopefully. “I can, uh, stay with you.”

“No!”

“Right then.” He hurried her back to the Gryffindor tower and tentatively kissed her temple. “I hope you feel better!”

Ginny barely recalled stumbling to bed, but only after she had violently spilled her guts into the girl's lavatory.

She was woken the next day by the scratchings of an owl.

“Let that damned bird in!” one of her roommates moaned.

Ginny peaked through her bed curtains and spotted Draco's owl at the window. “Oh gods,” she moaned. “I'm gonna be sick again!”

She fumbled for the letter and clumsily tore it open.

Gin-

Come to my room. I've got something to make you feel better.

DM

She gagged into the wastebasket as she pulled her robe over the clothes she had slept in.

“Stop!” Bianca moaned. “Oh . . .”

Ginny stumbled from the tower, ignoring the looks from other students. “What?” she moaned when she staggered into Draco's room.

He began to laugh. “You look awful!”

“I'm gonna be sick!”

“Here!” He hastily shoved a small jar at her. “Drink this.”

Ginny clapped her hand over her mouth. “I can't.”

“Trust me.”

She tipped the jar up and forced down the liquid and within instants, she felt better. She sighed and dropped into his chair. “I'm never, ever, ever drinking again.”

Draco's mouth curved into a smirk. “Maybe you shouldn't drink as much!”

“You! You gave me all those drinks!”

He laughed. “I didn't force you to swallow.”

Ginny shuttered. “What time is it?”

“Noon.”

“Thanks for your sympathy last night!”

“I was . . . sympathetic!”
“Sure thing. You couldn't wait to get away!”

Draco shrugged. “I didn't want to be thrown up on!”

She sighed. “I need to shower.”

“You can use mine.”

“So you can come in?”

“Something like that.”

Ginny snorted.

“That's lady like!”

“Give me a few minutes to get decent,” she told him.

His smile reached his eyes. “Absolutely. Just make sure decent involves naked!”

***

For Christmas, Ginny gave Draco two jars of red ink, since he always complained about running out while grading papers, and a new watch, since he had misplaced his. The watch was just made for him, she had decided. It had a thick black leather band with a silver face and a serpent outlined in the face of the watch. She hoped he liked it, as it had cost her a serious portion of her savings.

He met her in the Gryffindor common room, much to the surprise of the handful of students in her house who had stayed for the Holidays as well. She opened his present with much apprehension, secretly hoping it wouldn't outshine her own gift. She pulled out an exquisite black winter cloak. It was made of thick velvet and had sliver lining and silver clasps from neck to waist. The hem was embroidered with a design in silver thread, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Draco did like her present, and after a quick lunch, they spent the rest of the afternoon having snowball fights with the other students until they were starving and it was time for the Christmas Feast.

That night, Ginny allowed Draco to remove her trousers and slip his fingers deep inside of her. He stroked her carefully, and then moved down until his face was buried between her thighs and with his tongue and fingers, he gave Ginny her first orgasm.

The next night, she returned the favor.

After that, she decided she was ready. The blazing feelings Draco created inside of her weren't completely satisfied with the rubbing and touching and tasting. She wanted more, she was sure. She wanted to feel Draco, buried inside of her. That night, just before Draco's talented mouth could send her over the edge, she pulled him up towards her. “Here,” she whispered, spreading her legs to accommodate him and raising her hips.

“Are you sure?” he asked, hesitating.

“Yes. I want you.” She reached up to brush his pale hair from his eyes. I think I love you, she wanted to tell him.

He gazed down at her, as if searching for the truth behind her eyes.

“I do.”

“Tell me if I hurt you,” he told her, positioning his hips between her thighs. “I don't want to.”

She tried to relax, but she couldn't as he used his hand to guide himself into her. At first, all she could feel was pressure as the tip of his erection pushed against her. She closed her eyes and brought her hands to his shoulders. The pain increased a hundred fold as he lowered himself inside of her, and she let out a tiny shriek

“Are you okay?” Draco froze. “I can stop.”

“No, don't.” She moved her hands down his shoulders and onto his arms, pulling off his unbuttoned shirt as she went. “Just do it,” she commanded through gritted teeth.

“Are you sure?” he asked again.

“Uh huh.” As Draco gave one hard thrust and buried himself deep inside of her, a cry of hurt slipped from Ginny's lips and as it did, she tightened her grip on Draco's arms. Her thumb passed over a strange, rough spot and her eyes flew open, despite the burning pain.

“Want me to stop?” Draco asked.

She couldn't believe it. How had she not seen it before? Right there, plain as day on his forearm was the Dark Mark. “What . . . what is this?”

Draco glanced at it, and then back at her. “What do you mean?”

Suddenly Ginny wanted out of there. The pain was too much, and Dark Mark staring down at her made her insides swim with sickness. “I thought . . . I though you helped Harry.”

Draco didn't answer, but he could feel her body go rigid beneath him.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

Draco lifted himself off of her, his eyebrows drawn together. “I thought you knew.”

Ginny scrambled out from beneath him. “I didn't know.” She stared down at him. “Are you one of them?”

“What do you think?” he snapped, suddenly angry.

“I don't know,” she admitted, pulling her clothes back on, confused and ashamed. “Harry never told me either way. But why, why do you have that?”

“I can't believe this!” Draco spat. “Now you're worried about it?”

Hot tears burned beneath her eyelids. “Are you? Are you one of them?”

“No Ginny. No, I'm not.”

“Then why?” she asked desperately. He couldn't be a Death Eater.

“Get out,” Draco whispered, his voice low and acidic.

Ginny realized she had backed herself up to the door, and clapping her hand over her mouth, she turned to leave, but not before the tears had spilt down her cheeks.

***

For three days, Ginny stayed holed up in her room, trying to figure out what to do. The other students would be coming back Sunday, and she was still waiting for Harry to answer her letter. He was the only person she could get the answers she needed from, so she had Owled him once she calmed down. Now, it seemed a bit ridiculous. If Draco was a known Death Eater, Fred and George certainly would not have made any type of business deal with him. They were in the Order, after all; they would have known. Besides that, Dumbledore would have never asked him to come to the school if he had been a supporter of Voldemort.

Ginny was sick of pacing her room, but her pride kept her from leaving. How could she face Draco? She quite possibly had attempted to lose her virginity to a Death Eater, or, even worse, she had just made a huge prat out of herself.

But it didn't make sense. Draco was so different, so nice, so changed, she simply couldn't believe he had been a Death Eater until the end of the war. And if he had been in the past, well, people could change. She had to apologize. She wished she hadn't of run out of there, wished she had just asked him calmly about it, but she couldn't change the past. There were no spells or potions for that.

A scratching at the glass rattled her from her thoughts and she glanced up, seeing the brown school owl holding an envelope. Quickly she scrambled to let the owl in, gave it a treat, and tore the letter open.

Ginny,

We had heard Malfoy was teaching at Hogwarts and I hope he's fair, although he couldn't possibly be any worse than Snape. From what I know, Malfoy approached Dumbledore to ask for help. His father was killed by the Death Eaters, you know. Dumbledore took him in, and after he proved himself, he joined the Order. I don't know what he did to prove himself, but I do know that he was there when Voldemort died. Malfoy killed quite a few Death Eaters who tried to interfere with me and Voldemort. So I'd have to say he has changed, although I'm not exactly planning on befriending him. I know your brothers trust him enough to make some sort of top secret business deal with them though. Hope that answers your questions. Have fun!

Love, Harry

Ginny bit her lower lip as she tucked the letter away. So Draco's father had been killed by Death Eaters. Dear gods, he probably hated her for acting like such a ridiculous little school girl. That settled it. She nervously swallowed her pride and went to find him.

Her stomach wrapped around her throat, Ginny knocked on his bedroom door. Draco opened the door and stared down at her. He had dark circles under his eyes and smelled suspiciously strong of Firewhiskey. Then he slammed the door shut.

Ginny sighed and said the password. It opened again, and Draco was standing in front of his desk, drinking what Ginny knew to be a sober up potion. Ginny shut the door and leaned against it.

Draco kept his back to her, skillfully ignoring her.

“Will you listen?” she asked finally.

He didn't answer.

“Will you tell me what happened? I didn't know. I had no idea.”

Silence.
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry I reacted that way. I was just so surprised.”

Nothing.

“Draco, please! I am so sorry.”

“My father told me it was the best thing to do,” he said finally without turning around. “He said following the Dark Lord was the only way to change the way things were, get rid of Mudbloods and half breeds. So I did. When I was sixteen, I got the Dark Mark.”

Ginny sucked in a silent breath of air.

“They killed my father the summer before my seventh year.” His voice was cold and hard and almost cruel. Ginny had last heard that voice taunting her brother and Hermione, calling out Harry two years before. That voice had never been directed at her. “They did it in front of me. Said he wasn't doing the right thing. Said he was going soft on the Mudbloods. But he wasn't. If anyone was loyal to that fucking bastard, it was my father, and they killed him. Said it was a good example. I had to watch.” He was panting now, as if the very words were exhausting him.

Ginny's hand was clapped over her mouth and tears were in her eyes. “I'm so, so sorry,” she managed to whisper.

“It's not your fault,” he replied bitterly.

“I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion. I'm sorry I didn't ask you or trust you.” She crept across the room until she was directly behind him and circled her arms around his waist. “I didn't know.” His body remained stiff, but she refused to let go. She had never felt more absurdly silly and uncaring in her entire life.

Slowly, meticulous, Draco's body began to relax, and after what felt like eternity and back, he turned to hug her.

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This is the chapter which the fic is rated for. However, as I seem to have fun reading NC-17 stories, I have trouble writing them. If you need a good dose of NC-17 fun & this doesn't do the trick, I am very sorry! Anyways, thanks for all the reviews, and I'm really sorry I haven't responded to them. If you read my LJ, you'll know of the dramas in my life right now. I have read them, & I love them so please keep them up! *jess*

CHAPTER 7 Truth or Dare

When classes resumed, Ginny had finished all her homework, made up with Draco, and shown off her Christmas present to all her friends - and even Luna was impressed - but she hadn't finished what she'd started with Draco. It wasn't for lack of trying. Ginny wanted sex, she was sure, and as she had gathered from years of gossip it didn't hurt after the first time, but Draco was the reluctant one.

“I don't want you to think I just want you for this,” he told her.

“But I don't think that,” she protested.

“Good,” he smiled wickedly. “Then my plan worked.”

Before the Holidays, only the girls in Ginny's dorm knew that she was seeing Professor Malfoy, but no one else did. The students who cared had their suspicions she knew, as they spent time together on the weekends, and had gone to Hogsmead together before the Holidays, and the dance, but they never displayed any signs of affections in public. Nor did Draco give her any special treatment in class, besides the high marks on her papers. In fact, she lost 5 points when she completely ruined her brew by putting the ground Egyptian Beatle shell in before stirring it 4 times counter clockwise. He did, however, award her with 20 points when she let him pull her into his office during lunch that afternoon and snog her silly.

However, after the party, the rumors were confirmed, and suddenly, Ginny and Professor Malfoy were no longer as interesting, and that was fine with her.

Things were going good. Gryffindor had won their match against Hufflepuff and Slytherin, much to Draco's dismay, and if they won against Ravenclaw by a mere 70 points, they'd have the cup. Zoë had dumped Gable for a Slytherin named Alexander Zefferson, who even Ginny had to admit was a nice sight to see. Their dormmate Helena had picked up Gable with Zoë's approval, and Ginny found out with quite a bit of shock that Luna had formed a relationship with Neville.

“How?” Ginny demanded. “When did you even see him?”

“Over the holidays,” she answered dreamily. “He was at my grandparents. His grandmother is friends with mine.”

“So, what happened?” she pressed.

“I don't know really. We went on a walk and he picked snow flowers for me, and when we got back, there was mistletoe at the gates. I tried to tell him about nargles, but he kissed me!”

Ginny giggled. “Neville kissed you?” She had gone to the Yule Ball with Neville in her third year, and he had concentrated so hard on not stepping on her feet, and failed miserably at it, all he did was give her a fumbling handshake goodnight and dash off to bed.

“Yes, he's in Harry's Auror training, you know.”

“Yeah, Harry mentioned that he would be. He's really good at the Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“Ladies,” Draco's icy voice cut across the room. “This is not the time to be discussing your love life. I suppose this means you will be volunteering to use your potion as our test at the end of class.”

“Sorry Professor Malfoy,” Ginny told him in what she hoped was an apologetic voice.

He sauntered up behind them and stared into their cauldron. “Which way did you stir this?”

“Um, clockwise and then counter clockwise,” Ginny answered glancing up at the board. “Like it says to.”

Draco leaned forward and frowned, and at the same time, Ginny felt a sharp pinch across her rear end.

“Ow!” she gasped, giving a little jump before catching herself.

“Yes, Ms. Weasley?” he drawled.

Every eye in the room was on her, so she shook her head and said, “Sorry. I stubbed my toe.”

“I saw that!” Zoë hissed as they headed for Snape's class.

“Saw what?” Ginny asked innocently.

“Professor Malfoy grab your arse!”

Zoë, Bianca, and Luna burst out laughing.

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Ginny grinned, sticking her nose in the air. “None what so ever!”

***

The weekend before Valentine's Day another Hogsmead visit was scheduled.

“I hate Valentine's Day,” Ginny groaned that Friday night. She was hot and sweaty from the brutal Quidditch practice they'd just finished and she flopped down on her bed, not bothering to remove her filthy clothes.

“Why do you hate it?” Zoë demanded. “It's a great time for snogging. And shagging!”

“Are you serious?” Bianca shrieked, popping up from the bed. “You and Alexander are shagging?”

Zoë shrugged nonchalantly. “Not yet, but tomorrow's a good a day as any!”

“Is there something you're not telling us?” Ginny demanded.

“Like that you're not a virgin?” Bianca finished.

“Oh, well, you know.”

“No!” Ginny stood up. “I don't know!”

“You and Gable had sex?” Bianca gasped.

“Shhh,” Zoë hissed, glancing around.

“Helena's not in here,” Ginny noted.

“Yes, we had sex.”

“What?!”

“Why didn't you tell us?”

“Well,” she smiled slyly. “He wasn't my first.”

“WHAT?”

Zoë giggled. “I couldn't tell you though.”

“Why not?” Ginny demanded.

“Cause it was Ron.”

The room was suddenly more silent than it had ever been.

“Ron?” Bianca repeated. “As in Ginny's brother?”

Zoë nodded mischievously. “Didn't you wonder where he was the night he graduated?”

“No,” Ginny sputtered.

“Well, he was with me. So close your mouth, the fairyflies will get in.”

“How did you, I mean, what, you guys,” Bianca sputtered.

“Harry was off with Ginny and Hermione was who knows where, and Ron was lonely. I just made him feel better. It was quite sweet actually, as it was both of our first times.”

“Ew!” Ginny finally shrieked. “Stop! I don't want to know any more!”

“Did it hurt?” Bianca wondered.

“Well, yeah,” Zoë shrugged. “I mean, we were a bit clumsy.”

“Stop, please!” Ginny gagged, throwing her hands over her ears. “This is so gross!”

“Fine, fine,” Zoë relented.

There was a silence as the girls changed into their night clothes.

“I wasn't with Harry,” Ginny blurted out.

“What?”

“When?”

“Last year. On graduation night. I wasn't with Harry.”

“Oh really,” Zoë purred, slipping her nightgown over her head. “Then who were you with? Certainly not me!”

“I passed out in Draco's room.”

She was met with silence.

“I got sloshed on Firewhiskey and passed out.”

“Explain please!” Bianca demanded.

Ginny giggled and related the entire story, all the way up to the end of the summer.

“You little bint!” Zoë exclaimed. “You didn't tell us?”

“You didn't tell us that you shagged . . . ew, my brother,” she retorted, grimacing. “Ew. Disgusting. Must think happy thoughts.”

“Hmph,” Zoë snorted. “Fine.”

“Pretend you don't know that thought,” Ginny instructed. “No one else knows.”

“So why do you hate Valentine's Day?” Bianca finally asked.

“You would hate it too if you'd sent someone a singing telegram once!” she retorted.

“Oh come on,” Zoë giggled. “He was your boyfriend!”

“Oh yes, five years later!”

“He probably loved it,” Bianca told her.

“He didn't,” Ginny insisted. “He said he hated it.”

“So,” Zoë said, climbing cat like onto Ginny's bed, “tell us about you and Professor Malfoy. Have you shagged him senseless yet?”

“Zoë!” Ginny shrieked, feeling heat rising to her ears.

“Okay, don't tell us,” she shrugged.

Bianca joined them on the bed, and they spent the next half hour discussing their classmates, and N.E.W.T.s, and of course, boys.

Finally, Bianca sighed. “Let's play truth or dare. We haven't done that in a long time.”

Ginny giggled. “Since like our fourth year!”

“Let's,” Zoë rubbed her hands together. “I'll go first! I pick truth!”

“How many people have you had sex with?” Bianca asked quickly.

“Two. Ron and Gable.”

Ginny wrinkled her nose and shuddered.

“Okay, Ginny. Truth or dare?” Zoë asked.

“Truth.”

“Have you and Professor Malfoy had sex?”

“No fair!” Ginny squawked.

“You picked truth,” Bianca giggled.

“Fine. No. Well, yes. I mean, sort of.”

“How can you sort of have sex?” Zoë questioned.

Ginny shrugged. “We started to, but . . . it hurt. So we didn't.”

“Did he get inside of you?” Bianca asked slyly.

“Yes.” Ginny felt the flames of mortification licking at her face.

“All the way?” Zoë inquired.

“Yes.”

“Was he your first?”

“Uh huh.”

“So, you gave him your virginity, but that's it. No sex? No let's try again?”

“I hate you two tarts,” Ginny muttered. “Bianca, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Go get Helena's diary and read us a passage.”

“But she's probably got spells on it!” Bianca protested.

“I doubt it,” Zoë grinned evilly. “She's not that smart.”

Bianca jumped up from Ginny's bed, raced to Helena's, and stuck her hand under the pillow. She yanked out a small red book and yanked it open. “Gable is so hot! I don't know what he saw in Zoë. She is a total tart, blah, blah, blah.” Bianca's eyes quickly skimmed the pages. “He wants us to give our virginity to each other on Valentine's Day. Isn't that the most romantic thing ever?” She snapped it closed and raced back to Ginny's bed.

“That's disgusting,” Ginny said finally.

“What a bint,” Zoë laughed, not caring what anyone thought of her. “She actually believes he's a virgin?”

“Ginny,” Bianca said. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Go finish what you started with Professor Malfoy. Right now.”

Ginny's mouth dropped open. “Did Zoë set you up?”

“No!”

“Are you lying?”

“Maybe!”

“You can't be serious!”

“We are,” Zoë snickered. “Go!”

“How will you know if I do?” Ginny demanded hotly.

“Hello,” Bianca smirked. “We're playing truth or dare. Wizard's contract, you know!”

“But you're supposed to be my friends!”

“We are,” Zoë assured her. “You'll love it!”

“Fine.” Ginny stood up. “How am I supposed to get there?”

“We'll walk you down there,” Zoë offered. “Say you left something in the Great Hall.”

“It's not that late,” Bianca insisted. “A bit after 11.”

Ginny stripped of her pajamas and began to pull on a pair of trousers.

“You should wear something sexy,” Zoë suggested. “Like this.” She threw Ginny a tiny black skirt. “Wear it with your uniform shirt. He'll go crazy.”

Ginny eyed the outfit warily before gathering all her determination and pulling it on. She pulled on a clean pair of green silky knickers and tied her hair back. “Let's go.”

“Wait,” Zoë hissed. “Stop. First, how are you going to do this? You can't just walk right in and say `Shag me, Professor Malfoy!'.”

“Why not?” Ginny demanded.

Zoë sighed. “Okay look. Ever heard of seduction?”

They finally left the common room without anyone noticing, as most people were still studying or talking, and Colin was in the corner showing off his latest set of pictures of the prettiest girl's in school in rather compromising situations at the party they had held in December. They were silent as they made their way down to the dungeons were Draco's room was. Ginny stood before his door and sucked in a deep breath. “See you later.”

She whispered the password and let herself in and Zoë and Bianca edged back down the hall. Draco was sitting at his desk, a large stack of parchment in front of him.

“See what happens when you assign too much homework,” Ginny said in a throaty voice she didn't recognize.

Draco whirled around. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” she purred, removing her robe. “I just wanted to see you.” I sound like an idiot, she thought. But Draco's eyebrows shot up as he took in the near obscene amount of thigh she was showing.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, turning to get a better view.

Ginny felt ludicrous, trying to seduce her boyfriend, but Draco seemed to be enjoying it, so she kept on. She leaned over the desk, pretending to glance at the papers he was grading, knowing he was getting an eye full since Zoë had insisted that she leave several buttons undone. “Yeah.” She used her foot to scoot his chair back, and then straddled his lap.

“You look . . . great,” he told her, his hands creeping towards her breasts.

“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear as she ground against him.

Draco pulled her face towards his, catching her lips in a kiss, and then sucking on her lower lip as he unbuttoned her shirt. She let him remove the shirt from her body, and then she reached forward and slowly began undoing his buttons, one by one, firmly wrapping her legs tighter around his hips as she straddled him. She leaned down to his neck and softly kissed his flesh, nipping it with her teeth and sucking on it long enough to elicit a low moan from him. As she did, he let his hands knead their way up her back, underneath her bra, and cup her breasts.

“I missed you today,” he told her, his head buried in her cleavage.

“I missed you too,” she gasped back, finding immense pleasure in rubbing herself against his obvious erection as he fumbled to unclasp her bra.

“Are you sure?” he asked, removing his face from her chest as she stood long enough to tug his trousers down.

“Yes,” she insisted. “I want this.”

Draco kicked off his trousers and carried her to his bed. He wasted no time, easing her skirt down over her hips, and then her knickers. He slid one finger inside of her, and then another, maneuvering them in and then out, making her moan with each stroke. His lips brushed over her nipples and she wouldn't of found the will to stop the whimpers escaping her lips even if she'd wanted to. She spread her legs and he fit perfectly between her hips, and this time as he slipped himself inside of her, it was one gentle thrust. There was no pain, just the immense pleasure of being filled with him which made her groan and lift her hips to meet his. He placed his hands on her hips helping her obtain some sense of rhythm, and Ginny hoped she was doing the right thing.

She could barely concentrate on the feelings being joined with Draco gave her, but instead she wondered if she should lift her leg or kiss him or move her hands over his back or even across his smooth arse. She worried about lying limply beneath him, and so she tried to match the movements of her hips to his thrustings, raising hers to meet him as he bore down deep inside of her. Just as Ginny got to the point where she thought she might climax, Draco's thrusting became faster and deeper, and then he shuttered, coming deep inside of her and collapsing across her.

Ginny lay still, letting her hands make unsure circles on his back, half way wishing he would detach himself from her, and half way wishing they could stay like this forever. She waited until his breathing had returned to something close to normal, and then used her finger to draw his hair back from his eyes. Guilt crept across her when she saw the beads of sweat gathered on his forehead, because she didn't feel tired in the least. He turned his head slightly and kissed her chest over and over, before rising up and pulling himself out of her.

“Sorry,” he whispered in her ear, as he pressed against her.

“For what?” she asked.

“Not making it good for you.”

“It was good,” she insisted.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I mean, it was my first . . . complete time.”

“So? I wanted it to be good for you. I wanted you to come.”

His words brought a smile to her lips. “Next time, then.”

“How `bout now?” He placed his hand over hers and brought them between her legs. With his fingers on top of her own, he guided her, helping her stroke her clit. Draco propped himself up on his elbow and used his free hand to fondle her nipples, while his lips glazed over her breasts. “Don't stop,” he commanded, as he released her hand and moved his fingers inside of her.

Ginny continued rubbing her swollen clit with her fingers, moving her other hand on to Draco's chest and scratching at his nipples, stroking her own breasts, and then she slipped her finger into Draco's mouth as he engulfed her tight nipples with his tongue. Her hips bucked up under his hand as he increased the pressure on her wet sex. “Harder,” she heard herself beg. “More.”

She felt the first faint tinglings of an orgasm and thrust her hips into Draco's hand, gasping with pleasure. Within seconds, the sensations erupted from between her thighs and spread to her stomach and legs. She stopped teasing her clit, but Draco started immediately. “No,” she gasped writhing uncontrollably. “No!”

“Yes,” he gave her a wicked smile. “I want you to come hard.”

When Ginny was finally able to stop gasping for air, she rolled to her side and snuggled against Draco. “That was . . . good.”

“Just good?” he teased.

“So good. So, so good.”

She stayed beside him, unhurriedly running her fingers through his hair for several more minutes, and leisurely kissing his perfect lips, before sighing and climbing out of his bed.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.

“Back to bed. It's way after curfew,” she told him, pulling her skirt and top back on.

“Just stay here.”

“I can't,” she insisted, tying her hair up into a loose knot. “My roommates will wonder.”

“So?” Draco asked, standing up and nuzzling her neck. “Let them.”

“Mmm,” Ginny shook her head and gently pushed him away. “I can't.”

Draco pouted and dropped back to his bed.

“Everyone's leaving for Hogsmead at 10 tomorrow,” she told him, slipping her feet into her shoes. “I told them we'd go with them.”

“Right.” Draco suddenly looked just the slightest bit uncomfortable. “I thought we could just stay here, you know. Celebrate Valentines Day by ourselves.”

Ginny smiled. “We can. But I want to go to town for the afternoon. I need to get some stuff.”

Draco heaved a loud sigh. “Okay.”

Ginny gave him a quick kiss before stepping out into the empty hall. “Good night.”

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Sorry if my chapter alerts keep going out multiple times. I have no idea why, except that I always have a hard time uploading chapters. I know this fic is different from my usual dark style of writing, but I hope y'all are enjoying it anyways! Thanks for the reviews. I do read them & I love them.

CHAPTER 8 Truth Hurts

When Ginny climbed from her bed at 8 o'clock the next morning and tried to take a step, she found that her thighs were unbelievably sore.

She heard giggles from Zoë's bed as she grimaced, and looked up to see her friend watching her.

Zoë and Bianca had been sleeping in her bed when she returned. She hadn't noticed and simply climbed into the bed, causing all three of them to start shrieking.

“We wanted to hear all the dirty details,” Bianca smiled as she rubbed the sleep her eyes. “We're waiting for you.”

“No purple spots, I see,” Zoë yawned. “So tell us all about it.”

They had stayed up until nearly 3 a.m., discussing it and dragging every detail out of Ginny, particularly those relating to a naked Draco.

“Is he big?” Zoë had demanded.

“Dunno,” she shrugged with a giggle. “I don't really have anything to compare him to!”

“Well guess. Show us.”

“Um, like this?” Ginny held her hands apart.

Even in the dark, Ginny was able to see the wicked smile that had lit her friend's face.

“Sore much?” Zoë asked as Ginny stood to her feet.

“Yes,” she groaned.

“Well, take a hot shower, then we'll swipe some of Helena's virgin cream for you,” she suggested.

“Virgin cream?”

Zoë nodded. “We were bored after you left. So we decided to entertain ourselves, and we found Madam Minerva's Sore Limb Cream in a certain girl's trunk.”

“Madam Minerva?”

Bianca giggled, joining them. “We wondered the same thing.”

“But the jar says it's great for aches and pains related to a damsel's bedroom ailments,” Zoë finished.

After the shower and the cream, Ginny's legs felt much better. She spent the rest of the time in the bathroom, trying on clothes and experimenting with cosmetics charms until she felt she had found the perfect combination of sexy but not tarty.

“I'm going to get Draco,” she told her two friends. “I'll meet you out front.”

She very nearly skipped down the staircases to Draco's room. She was happy, and excited, and filled with some sort of feeling she couldn't quite name, but if she had to, absolutely had to as if her life depended on it, she would have said that maybe, just possibly, she was in love.

She ignored the looks from a group of young Slytherins, and whispered the password to Draco's door and let herself in. Draco was sitting in his chair, still dressed only in his boxers and staring over a full cup of tea.

“Are you alright?” she asked, quickly shutting the door.

He nodded. “I need to tell you something before we go to Hogsmead.”

“What?” Ginny felt her insides shifting. He looked paler than usual, and his falt, emotionless tone wasn't comforting.

He sucked in a deep breath. “You know that girl who's working for Madam Rosmerta? Her niece?”

Ginny nodded. The girl was just a year or two older than her, but she wasn't nice at all. Madam Rosmerta admitted she had taken her in for a few months as a family favor. Nearly everyone in Hogwarts was looking forward to her departure.

“She, um, she says, uh, that, um, she says that she's pregnant.”

His words didn't penetrate Ginny's thoughts. “I don't . . . understand.”

“She says . . . it's mine.”

Ginny took a step backwards. “Yours?” It didn't make sense. What was he going on about? Why would she say that?

“It's not. I mean, it can't be. I was . . . safe. More than safe.”

Ginny literally felt the force of his words as they drove into her chest. “What?”

“I'm sorry, I am. I had to tell you before we went to town. I mean, she's such a bint and I knew she'd say something to you, so I had to tell you . . .”

“But . . . how?” Tears were rising rapidly in the corner of Ginny's eyes.

“I'm sorry.” Draco kept staring down at his cold tea, refusing to look at her.

Ginny felt as if the room was going to close in on her. “How far, how far along is . . . she?”

“She says . . . a month and a half.”

Ginny felt the wall against her back as she stumbled into it. “But that's when . . .” When I gave you my virginity, her mind screamed.

“I'm sorry, Gin. I was out of my mind. I just wanted a drink and I went to town. She's nothing to me. You, you're everything. I love you, Gin, and I'm sorry.” For the first time since she had entered the room, he looked up at her. “I'm sorry.”

He loves me. Oh gods, he said he loves me. Ginny shook her head, sorrow rolling down her face. “Go to her. If she has your child, she needs you more than I do.”

“No!” Draco snapped. “Are you listening? She has to be lying! She can't be-”

“It doesn't matter,” Ginny whispered, choking on the bitterness of her tears. “I can't know . . . that and stay with you.”

Draco stood from his chair as Ginny pulled the door open. She took off into the hallway, blinded by her tears and deafened as she heard Draco's words from behind her. “Ginny! No! Come back!”

She crashed straight into Zoë and Bianca on the second floor staircase.

“Ginny!” Zoë grabbed her shoulders. “What's wrong?”

“Let go,” she begged, her voice low and pleading. “Please.”

“What happened?” Bianca gasped, futilely wiping at her tears.

“Nothing. I don't want to talk about it,” she sobbed. “I'm not going to town!”

“Ginny!” Draco's voice reached her ears. “Wait!”

“Oh my gods,” Zoë gasped. “Professor Malfoy's in his boxer shorts.”

Ginny peaked over her shoulder, and through her tears, she could see him, his face freeze, as if he suddenly realized he had forgotten his clothes, and he quickly began to fumble for the zipper of his robes. “Make him go away,” Ginny whispered to her friends.

“She doesn't want to see you,” Bianca told him coldly as he struggled to zip up his robes. They helped Ginny up the stairs and into her bed, where she refused to come out, refused to speak, refused to eat.

Ginny barely recalled the tear filled journey back to her room, but she did remember the look on Draco's face while he struggled to put his robes on. A mix of sorrow and anger like she had never seen.

Zoë and Bianca leaned over her, begging her to tell them what happened, but Ginny buried her face under her pillow and begged them to go. “Please,” she asked, her voice hoarse and raspy, “just go to Hogsmead. I just want to be alone.”

Shortly after lunch they relented, and Ginny was left alone with her tears and thoughts. Her brain had gone into over drive, trying to comprehend Draco's words, and piece some sort of logical explanation for his reactions, but she could come up with nothing. As far as she could tell, he had gone to Hogsmead that very night they first attempted to have sex and ended up sleeping with Madam Rosmerta's bitch of a niece. So he was probably drunk. So she probably came onto him. So she had just run out of his room, thinking he was a full-fledged Death Eater. So what? she asked herself. So what? He probably was mad at her, or hurt or confused, but that didn't mean he should go sleep with someone else.

She briefly considered smothering herself with a pillow.

There was a numbness, an emptiness in the very center of Ginny's chest. It made it difficult to breathe, to think.

Oh gods, this pain . . . it's too much.

Draco said he loved her. I love him. Loved him. Ginny shook her head. No matter what she felt or thought she felt, she couldn't deal with this. What if the bitch was pregnant? And what if it was Draco's? Then that's the end. She rubbed her eyes. No, it's already the end. She pulled the curtains tight around her bed and lit up her galaxy glass, crying into her pillow until she fell asleep.

When Ginny woke, she was disoriented. It was dark still, and she was surrounded by stars, stars as far as she could see. And she could hear voices; deep, gravelly, unreal voices speaking, their words coming from all around her.

“Leave her be, sister. I will take her now.”

“But this is mine, this is my realm.”

“And now I will take her to mine.”

Ginny fell back into sleep and dreamed about a boy with fine blond hair and silver eyes who made her laugh and cry. Their hands were tied together with a long silver cord that couldn't be broken, but she was far away from him. The distance between them felt immeasurable, despite the binding cord. She reached out to touch him, but he changed. His hair became dark and his eyes black, and next to him stood a tall, hooded figure, holding a book in his hands.

“Who are you?” Ginny asked.

“It matters none,” the dark haired man told her. “I gave you what you needed.”

When Ginny woke, the last wisps of the dream faded from her. Zoë and Bianca were at the foot of her bed, picking out stars and planets.

“How do you feel?” Zoë asked when she saw Ginny sit up.

“Bleh,” Ginny grunted, rubbing her eyes.

“We brought you this,” Bianca told her, holding out a large box of Honeyduke's finest chocolates.

“Chocolates always make you feel better,” Zoë added, helping herself.

“I don't want to feel better,” Ginny muttered. “I want someone to erase my memory.”

Her two best friends exchanged glances.

“That bad?” Bianca asked quietly.

Ginny nodded, and picked up a toffee candy. “Did he go to Hogsmead?”

“No. I think he stood out by the fat lady, hoping you'd reappear,” Zoë told her.

“Really?” She put the chocolate in her mouth.

“That's where he was when we left. He asked about you, but we ignored him. Well, I did. Zoë told him to sod off. And to fuck himself. Probably gonna lose points for that,” Bianca added.

“You ready to tell us what's going on?” Zoë asked, trying to catch a star in her hand.

“Madam Rosmerta's niece said she's pregnant by him.” Ginny helped herself to another chocolate. She felt strangely better, as if something had happened to prove to her that this really wasn't the end of the world, something she couldn't even begin to place.

Zoë and Bianca were silent.

“That first night we, um, tried to, uh, have sex, we kind of got in a fight. He went to Hogsmead, got drunk, blah, blah, blah.” She popped a third chocolate in her mouth.

“Oh, oh Ginny!” Bianca's hand flew to her mouth.

“That fucking arse!” Zoë exploded. “How could he do that?”

“He just told you?” Bianca asked.

Ginny nodded calmly, chewing her candy. “It doesn't matter.”

“Yes it does!” Zoë nearly shouted. “I'm going to kill him!”

Ginny shook her head. “I just want to forget about him.” Even as the words left her lips, she knew she wouldn't, possibly couldn't. An image of a silver cord flashed through her mind, confusing her more.

***

Draco wasn't at breakfast Monday morning, and Ginny was only slightly relieved. The news of Professor Malfoy running down the halls in his boxers and an open robe spread like wildfire and every student swore up and down that they saw it, even though he only passed four people before he got his robes zipped. This of course meant that everyone was gossiping about Ginny and Draco and she hated it.

When he came into class, her stomach twisted nervously, but she didn't even look at him. She just wrote down the instructions he barked at them, and began working on the potion with Colin. She could feel his eyes burning into her skull, and she could feel the curious stares of the other students. Colin said nothing, and she assumed Bianca or Zoë had already filled him in.

It was the longest two hours Ginny had ever experienced. Draco snapped at everyone, taking points for any slight mishap. Her only relief was when Helena and Gable got in a fight and she splashed the advanced swelling potion in his face and screamed, “Now your head will match your ego!” before storming out of class. Draco took away points from her, points from Gable, took more points because the potion didn't even work - it just turned his skin rather speckled, and then took points from the laughing students. Ginny bowed her head over her desk and willed her tears not to fall.

At the end of class, Ginny let Colin take their beaker to Draco's desk, while she stood safely huddled between Luna, Zoë, and Bianca, and when the bell rang, she dashed out of class.

As much as she wanted to lie in bed and cry - which was what she did when the lights went off at night - Ginny forced herself to her classes, to meals, and spent all her spare time studying with Bianca and Colin, and usually Zoë. She refused to look at Draco, no matter how fiercely she could feel his eyes blazing into her. She went to Quidditch practice each week, and worked with Madam Hooch three times a week, training for the open Quidditch tryouts that would be held in the summer.

“There are a couple of scouts coming to your next match,” Madam Hooch told her one afternoon. It was a rather warm day for the end of February, and Ginny had decided to push back her homework to take advantage of the weather.

“Scouts?” she repeated, sliding off her broom.

“That's right. One from Puddlemere, one from the Canons, and one from Haywood Unions.”

“Scouts?”

“That's what I said.”

Ginny could barely believe it. “How do they know about me?”

“Well, you're the best Chaser this school's had in quite some time. Word gets around.”

“What's gonna happen?”

Madam Hooch shrugged. “That depends on you. If they like you, they'll offer you some sort of contracts, and if you like them, you can accept. If not, you can see what happens this summer.”

“So . . . I can quit worrying about my N.E.W.T.s?”

“I don't think you were too worried about them in the first place, were you?”

“Well, no. Not really.”

“You only need two N.E.W.T.s in any subject to be eligible for professional Quidditch.”

That night, Ginny slept a little better than she had in the past two weeks.

Draco's class was still horrible. He was still in a furious mood, continually docking points, and assigning the most complicated potions he could. He handed all of Ginny's papers back with a large red O at the top and nothing else. She would force herself to mutter “Thank you Professor Malfoy.” In the month since their falling out, three students had left his class in tears, vowing never to return. Professor Snape was a relaxing treat compared to him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I may have said this before, but of course, the people in Ginny's dreams are Lord Morpheus & his sister Despair. They belong to Neil Gaiman, I am just fascinated by them. In “reality” they do not really interfere with people like this, I just thought I'd tweak them to my own enjoyment!

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If anyone got more than 1 chapter alert, I swear it's not my fault! Of course, you could always leave me more reviews *smiles sweetly*. My one shot stories don't have near enough reviews!!!!! And I think everyone should read Brightside. That's my current favorite! Thanks for all the lovely reviews! xoxoxoxoxox

CHAPTER 9 Changes and Chances

One morning, Ginny scurried to gather her belongings and get out of his class when he called to her.

“Ms. Weasley, may I have a word?”

She wasn't the only person who froze. Nearly the entire class knew that had had some sort of row and watched with unashamed curiosity.

“Just Ms. Weasley,” he hissed. “If the rest of you are not out of this room in 5 seconds, I will dock 15 points from each person.”

There was a stampeding for the door; only Ginny remained glued to her seat. She said nothing, just sat silently, staring at the desk top and waiting for him to speak.

“I sent her to the mediwitch yesterday.”

Ginny didn't answer.

Draco cleared his throat. “She was going to . . . end it, but she's too far along.”

Ginny still said nothing, wondering if he seriously thought he was making her feel better.

“So, it can't be mine. She's about four months pregnant, not two and a half.”

She heard his footsteps, and then could see his robes as he stood at the edge of her desk.

“Could you at least look at me?”

Ginny shook her head, tears threatening to escape her eyes.

“I just . . . wanted to tell you. It's not mine.”

She could hear the despair and frustration in his voice, but she just nodded and stood to her feet. But you still slept with her.

“I know what you're thinking. I'm sorry Ginny, I am.”

“Me too,” she whispered before leaving the room.

She heard Draco's raging voice, filling the room with explicit words, and heard the tinkling of breaking glass as she ran down the hallway.

“What did he say?” Zoë hissed as she slipped into her seat in Professor Snape's class.

Ginny shook her head and pulled out her DaDa book and wand and stared at it blankly. It would be so much easier if she could hate him; if she could direct all spare time and energy, which wasn't really much, into absolutely hating him. But she couldn't. The mere thought of him made her want to cry, and attending his class three times a week was more than torturous. It was hard to hate someone so beautiful, someone she had willingly, happily given her virginity to. It was hard to hate the first person who had ever told her `I love you', the first person she had ever felt the same way about. But if she couldn't hate him, she was hurt, and hurting was far worse. Hurting meant that she couldn't sleep or eat or put any sort of effort into homework or class or friends or-

“Ginny!”

She glanced up to see Bianca staring at her.

“You're my partner. Come on.”

She looked to the front of the class, where Professor Snape watched her with narrow eyes. Behind him, on the blackboard, she could see the outline for the day's assignment. “Oh. Right.”

Ginny half heartedly practiced blocking the temporary blindness curses that Bianca kept throwing at her, barely noticing when the spells hit and she could no longer see.

“Ms. Weasley,” Professor Snape's voice jarred her from her thoughts. “If you do not at least attempt to be interested in today's lesson I cannot justify giving you a participation grade.”

Over lunch, Zoë and Bianca demanded to know what he had said, so Ginny gave up resisting and told them.

“Did he think that would make you feel better?” Bianca asked, disgusted.

Ginny shrugged. “I don't know.”

Zoë sat her fork down and swirled her pumpkin juice thoughtfully. “We need to do something fun. We need something to get our mind off of this.”

“Like what?” Bianca asked, her interest roused.

“Dunno,” she mused. “Give me a week or so, and I'll know.”

Ginny barely heard the conversation. For her, the days passed like years and the weeks like millennia. Eating, sleeping, breathing, living, it was all becoming painfully hard. There was no peace in Draco's revelation; not even the slightest sense of relief. The aching sorrow that filled her was slowly morphing to numbness. Not feeling was only slightly less difficult than feeling acute sadness. The emptiness was so defined that Ginny secretly thought if she threw herself from the Astronomy Tower, she wouldn't feel a thing.

***

“So, what are these?” Bianca asked as Ginny emptied the contents of a large package onto Zoë's bed.

“Not sure,” Ginny admitted. “Some sort of candies. Fred and George sent them. Want to know what we think.”

“Are they safe?” Zoë wondered, picking up a red wrapped treat.

“I think so,” she nodded. “The letter said none of the effects last for more than five minutes.” As the weeks had passed, the numbness had begun to grow into a secret anger and indifference. It was Quidditch that freed her mind, but being loaded down with more homework than she could possibly do by herself didn't hurt either.

Zoë giggled. “You go first.”

Ginny sorted through the pile and chose a purple wrapped candy and popped it in her mouth. Her eyes bulged as a unicorn horn sprouted from her forehead. “I wonder how much I could get for this?” she said, poking it.

Zoë began to giggled and tentatively picked up a loud pink wrapped candy. “What do you think this is?”

“Don't know. It's a variety pack they said,” Ginny shrugged.

Zoë carefully licked the candy, shrugged and then put it in her mouth. “Ouch!” she shrieked as large pink wings sprouted beneath her nightshirt.

“What are you doing?” Helena and Rory Abbott asked, entering the room. “Couldn't you find anything better to do on a Friday night?”

“Like what?” Zoë demanded, making her wings flap. “Go out dancing?”

“Wouldn't that be nice?” Helena sighed, flopping down on the bed and picking up a small box. “What are these?”

“Don't know,” Ginny said, tossing a yellow candy at Bianca. “My brothers sent them.”

“These look like Every Flavor Beans,” Helena noted, looking at the box.

“Try them,” Bianca told her, carefully placing the yellow candy on her tongue and immediately sprouting feathers.

Helena stuck a small pale gray colored bean in her mouth and immediately made a face. “This tastes like . . . like . . .”

Zoë picked one up and chewed it thoughtfully. “It tastes like semen!”

“Ew!” Bianca and Rory shrieked.

“I was going to say soap,” Helena retorted.

“That is so gross,” Ginny made a face as her horn began to fade.

“Well, it does,” Zoë shrugged. “Anyways, semen tastes like soap.”

“Ew!” they shrieked.

“It does not,” Bianca insisted. “You have to be lying.”

“I'm not,” she shook her head. “Ask anyone.”

“Why are we talking about this?” Ginny pretended to gag. “Who cares what it tastes like?”

“More like laundry detergent,” Helena said thoughtfully, chewing another candy.

“Laundry detergent is soap,” Rory reminded her.

“And when did you taste that?” Ginny asked.

“Laundry soap or semen?” Helena giggled.

“Never mind,” Ginny wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. “I don't want to know.”

“So look, I've got a plan,” Zoë interrupted them.

“Oh yeah?” Rory perked up, now chewing on a cinnamon colored candy and spouting flames as she spoke. “What kind of plan?”

“Well,” she smiled impishly, “I thought we should do something really fun for our spring holiday. It'll be four days of no classes, and I figured we should make the best of it.”

“Like the mountain of homework we have?” Helena rolled her eyes.

“No. Forget about that,” Zoë wiggled her eyebrows.

“What do you have in mind?” Bianca asked, brushing the feathers away from her.

“Well, my cousin told me about this new club that's in London-”

“Your cousin?” Ginny interrupted.

“My Muggle cousin. Anyways, it's right close to the Leaky Cauldron, and it's supposed to be amazing. It wouldn't be hard to make fake ID's and get in.”

“What's a fake ID?” Ginny asked.

“It's what Muggles use to prove their age.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me on this one. So listen. We can Floo to the Leaky Cauldron's public fireplace and walk from there. We'll meet my cousin and get trashed, and hopefully pick up some hot boys!” She sat back, triumphant.

“That sounds . . . risky,” Bianca said finally.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we can't just Floo out of here from the common room,” Rory pointed out.

“No, but we can use the fireplace on the 7^th floor. In the Room of Requirement. It still works.”

“What about when we get back?” Bianca asked. “Flitch will kill us!”

“No, it's gonna be late when we get back. We'll just Floo into the common room.”

“Where are we gonna get Floo powder?” Ginny asked.

“Well . . . you still know Professor Malfoy's password. You can borrow some of his!” Zoë smiled.

“I'm not going anywhere near him!” Ginny shook her head.

“You don't have to go near him,” Helena spoke up. “Just his Floo powder.”

“Come on, Gin,” Zoë pressed. “It'll be so fun. Dancing, hot Muggle boys, alcohol . . .”

“Speaking of hot boys,” Helena added, “I know someone who's got it bad for you Ginny.”

“For me?”

“Uh huh.”

“Who?”

“Gable.”

“Gable?”

“Yup.”

“As in the guy you threw your potion all over?”

Helena giggled. “Yes.”

“I don't want anyone. I'm not interested,” Ginny crossed her arms.

“Oh come on. You know he's absolutely gorgeous, and it would make Professor Malfoy bloody jealous!” Helena told her.

“I don't want to make him jealous,” Ginny muttered. “I don't want to think about him.”

Zoë chewed thoughtfully on a candy that was causing her hair to shimmer and swim about her head like millions of little fish. “You know, it might not be a bad idea.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “No. No way. You both fancied him and now you're trying to shove him off on me?”

“He's a good snog,” Zoë shrugged. “I like this candy. Tell your brothers this is my favorite.”

Ginny sighed and flopped backwards, staring at the hanging on Zoë's bed. She had skillfully avoided nearly all conversation with Draco since Valentines weekend, with the exception of his latest announcement, but that didn't mean she was over him. Not at all. She missed him so much it physically hurt her to think about it - so she tried her hardest not to think about him. Maybe someone like Gable would be good for taking her mind off him, as long as Gable didn't get the impression that he meant something to her. She watched as Helena's cat played with a wide silver string. “I dreamed about that,” she said suddenly, flashes of a dream returning to her.

“About what?” Bianca asked.

“That string.”

“I just got that today. It was on a letter,” Helena told her. “How could you?”

“Well, I dreamed about a string that was silver. It was tying my hand . . . to Draco's. Professor Malfoy's I mean.”

“When?” Rory asked, abruptly sitting up.

“A while ago,” she admitted, straining to remember the dream. “On that weekend we had our row.”

Rory scrambled from the bed and began to dig through her trunk. “Look, I got this for my birthday.” She held up a thick brown book.

“What is it?” Bianca asked, interested.

“A dream book.”

“A dream book?” Zoë rolled her eyes. “Those aren't real!”

“Not a Muggle one, a real one.” Rory began to flip through the book. “It was written by Daria Clinkstaff. She was the most famous seer of the century.”

“I thought that was Trelawney,” Zoë giggled.

“Silver threads symbolize soul binding,” she read, ignoring Zoë. “Although the thread is not physically real, when he is so inclined, Lord Morpheus can use this to symbolize what he needs to communicate in dreams, and seers have seen it in visions.”

“Who is Lord Morpheus?” Bianca asked.

“I don't know,” Rory shrugged. “It doesn't say.”

“Soul binding?” Ginny asked skeptically. “What's that?”

“It just means that the souls are bound together. That's the way it is, no matter what happens.”

“That's just great,” she sighed dramatically. “My soul is bound to Professor Malfoy.”

“So,” Helena said after a short silence. “What happened with you two?”

Ginny shrugged. “I really don't want to talk about it.”

“Right,” Helena nodded shortly, and turned to Zoë. “I want to hear more about this plan.”

***

Ginny finally did agree to borrow the Floo powder from Draco, and that afternoon before their spring holiday began, she waited until he came into the Great Hall for lunch, and quickly snuck down to his office, helping herself to a large quantity of the powder.

“Did you get it?” Zoë asked, as Ginny dove back into her seat at the Gryffindor table.

Ginny nodded, her heart pounding. “Why did we need so much?”

Zoë smiled mischievously. “A lot of people want to go!”

“Like who?” Bianca asked, leaning closer.

“Well, us, Helena and Rory, some of those hot boys in Slytherin,” with that, she gave a quick wave and a smile at the gaggle of males watching her, “a couple of Ravenclaws, and Colin and his friends.”

Ginny groaned. “We are going to get caught!”

“No we're not!” Zoë hissed. “Stop that. Think positive thoughts!”

Ginny tried, but it was near impossible. During her training with Madam Hooch, she couldn't keep her mind off Draco and the looks he had given her during his class. She had, as she usually did, tried her best to ignore him, but he seemed intent on staring her down, his eyes locked into her skin for the entire two hours.

Every question he had, he directed at her, forcing her to speak, at least indirectly, to him. His mood was still as foul as ever, awarding detentions and taking away points with no end.

At the end of class, he had told her to stay, and once again, she stared at her desk until the room was empty.

“Will you at least look at me?” he demanded, shutting the door.

Ginny forced her head up, and was greeted by the familiar stinging of tears. Draco was still so absolutely gorgeous. His pale hair hung long and messily across his silver eyes, and Ginny wanted to melt at his feet. Maybe she could forgive him. People made mistakes; they just happened. Maybe he really was sorry. Maybe they could start again, and-

“What do I have to do to prove how sorry I am?” he asked, standing in front of her.

Ginny was silent, drinking in his perfect pink lips, and wondering what kind of answer she could give him. “Nothing,” she said finally. “I already know.”

“Then will you forgive me? Can we put this behind us?” he asked. His face was blank and hard, but there was the slightest hint of desperation in his voice.

She wanted to give in, she really did.

But she had never, ever been hurt like this before, and she wasn't quite willing to risk going through it again. She knew what Zoë would say; Zoë would give her line after line about taking risks and love and on and on. Bianca would bite her lip and tell Ginny it was a hard choice to make. “I have to go,” she whispered, grabbing her bag and dashing from the room.

“Weasley!”

Ginny nearly fell off her broom. “Yes?”

“Are you okay? You've been sitting there for three minutes. You're the Chaser!” Madam Hooch shouted.

“I don't feel good,” Ginny lied, lowering her broom to the ground. “I think I'm going to be sick.”

Madam Hooch eyed her suspiciously for several long, silent moments. “This wouldn't have anything to do with Professor Malfoy, would it?”

“Maybe,” Ginny mumbled, looking away.

“Well, I suppose that we've done enough for one day. I expect you to be back on track Monday though!”

“I will,” she promised, hurrying off to the broom shed, thankful for the uncharacteristic sympathy she'd heard in Madam Hooch's voice.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Review! And then go read Brightside. And if you like that, there's 2 more updates in my LJ for upcoming chapters of Brightside!

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I'm uploading this at work, which has a much faster connection than I do, so hopefully y'all will only get 1 alert. Thanks again for the reviews! They really do have an influence on the story, you know??? And just to let everyone know, Ginny is not prego & in this story she won't get prego. I already wrote a prego story, called Secrets, which you can find in my LJ, starting with the February 20^th entry. I just can't post it here because of the ships.

CHAPTER 10 Sneaking Out

Friday afternoon, the girls had lugged all their necessary items to the unused bathroom on the 7^th floor. The plan was to head for the bathroom just before curfew and get ready, then meet the rest of their classmates in the room at 10:30. There were 18 of them going to the club, and each one was responsible for bringing money to pay for the club and the Floo to get back into Hogwarts. Ginny still had her doubts, and asked Zoë why no one had ever Flooed into the school before.

Zoë rolled her eyes and sounded eerily like Hermione when she said, “Honestly. Haven't you read Hogwarts: A History? The fireplaces are keyed to the students and staff.”

They had spent the entire day on Thursday finishing up all the homework they had been assigned, and on Friday morning had planned their outfits, and then spent the afternoon lying about by the lake, enjoying the warmth.

“What did Professor Malfoy tell you?” Bianca asked, breaking the laziness that had settled over them.

“When?” Ginny asked.

“When he made you stay after class on Wednesday.”

“Oh. Nothing.”

“Why don't you tell us anything, Gin?” Zoë pouted. “We're supposed to be your best friends!”

“Because . . . I don't like talking about him.” She paused and picked a single flower from the grass. “And I already know what you'll say when I tell you, so why bother?”

“Come on,” Bianca pressed. “It will make you feel better.”

Ginny sighed and sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. “He asked what he could do to prove how sorry he was.”

“Oh,” Zoë let out a small sigh and pressed her hand to her chest.
“Stop being so dramatic,” Ginny groaned, rolling the flower between her fingers.

“What did you tell him?”

“I said I already knew that he was sorry.”

“And?”

“And nothing,” Ginny shrugged. “I left.”

“You left?” Zoë shook her head. “Ginny, honestly. Forgiveness is a good thing!”

“I can forgive him. I just can't be with him.”

“Why not?”

“Because . . . I don't want to get hurt like that ever again!”

“But Gin, he may never hurt you again,” she argued. “He could be the very best thing that ever happened to you, and you're going to throw it all away because you're scared? That's ridiculous. Sometimes you just have to take a risk. You can't keep other people away from you because you're afraid. You'll never get anywhere!”

“She's probably right,” Bianca spoke up, “but it's a hard choice.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “I knew you'd say that!”

They sat in silence, until Zoë stretched out and smiled, cat like. “We are going to have so much fun tonight!”

“Is Joshua coming?” Bianca asked.

Zoë nodded. “Of course. But make sure I don't spend all my time with him. I need to check out every guy in the building!”

After dinner they went back to their room and tried to pass the time by testing Fred and George's candy, and playing with Ginny's galaxy glass, and at 9:15, Helena jumped to her feet.

“Let's go,” she said. “I can't take this anymore!”

Ginny silently agreed. Her stomach was teeming with nervous butterflies. She was worried about being caught, but actually looking forward to the fun Zoë promised them.

Casually they made their way to the bathroom one at a time, and began to change into their clothes. Zoë had, of course, picked out Ginny and Bianca's clothes, and as Ginny examined the four inch platforms she was to wear, she wondered how she was supposed to walk, much less dance. She pulled on the tiny Muggle skirt and the sleeveless shirt with the deeply scooped neck. “I look like I belong at the Crystal Palace!” she noted.

“You do not!” Rory giggled. “I have a squib cousin who, uh, works there. You look like McGonagall compared to her!”

They used heavy cosmetics charms, did each other's hair, and borrowed various creams and perfumes from Zoë until it was nearly time to meet the others.

“Ready?” Zoë asked, her voice high with enthusiasm.

They nodded and crept single file down the hall. Zoë carefully pushed the door of the unused classroom open where the other students greeted them, all with matching expressions of nervous anticipation.

All male, Ginny noted. Leave it to Zoë!

“Here,” Zoë began to pass out the fake ID cards she had made over the past few weeks, and Ginny thought again that it was a silly way to prove someone's age. Zoë went over the instructions with them again, and then one by one, they Flooed into the public Floo at the Leaky Cauldron.

“It's a bit late for you, isn't it?” the night watchman was asking as Ginny found herself inside the entry way of the familiar tavern.

Zoë shook her head. “Nope. Just celebrating our weekend from work,” she said smoothly.

The night watchman eyed the five girls in their skimpy clothing before nodding and opening the door.

She was right; the Muggle nightclub was only a block away from the tavern. Zoë's cousin looked a lot like her, except her hair was jet black with large pink streaks running down it.

She hugged Zoë and then looked them over. “So, you're all witches.”

“Wizards,” Colin told her with a smile, running his eyes up and down her curvy frame.

“Shhh,” Zoë hissed. “People will think you're nutters!”

They entered the club with ease, giving the doorman the Muggle money Zoë had exchanged for most of them, and Ginny senses were assaulted as she stepped inside. It was dark and smoky. The air was filled with Muggle cigarette smoke and sweat, and the lights were flashing and glittering. There were women dancing in cages above the dance floor, a large bar, and Muggles grinding against each other as if they were having sex with their clothes on. Music blasted from every direction, and Ginny decided that for the night, she was in love with the debauchery of it all.

“Wanna drink?” Gable shouted from her side. He had stayed suspiciously close to her ever since they had met on the 7^th floor, but Ginny decided it was okay. For tonight at least, because tonight, she could be whoever she wanted.

“Sure!” she called back.

She followed him to the bar, where he ordered her a drink she had never heard of.

“Two Crown and Cokes,” he shouted at the shirtless man behind the bar.

“What is this?” she asked when he handed her the small cup.

“Alcohol,” he told her, smiling. “You'll like it.”

She took a tentative sip, and to her surprise, it went down easy. It wasn't warm like butterbeer or painful like Firewhiskey, but smooth and almost comforting. After two, she was ready to dance. She had been watching the Muggles carefully as they ground themselves into each other, eyes closed, blissfully writhing in time to the music. The alcohol worked up her courage, and she led Gable to the dance floor, finding herself immediately sandwiched between him and Zoë, both of them grinding themselves obscenely into her. But it was fun. The night dragged on, and Ginny found herself dancing with deliciously hot, sweating Muggles, her friends, and herself. Gable didn't let his hands wander anywhere they shouldn't like the Muggle boys did, but kept them possessively on her hips or sliding around her waist. Plus, he could dance. Ginny had never realized that he was half Muggle until that night.

She wondered curiously about what the Muggle born students did during the holidays. She imagined them going to clubs like this every single night, and consuming the silky smooth alcohol, but then realized that her mum would never let her do such a thing, and Muggle parents were probably no different. Zoë apparently spent time with her Muggle cousins, and Gable admitted to going out with his neighbors.

“So they know?” she asked.

“That I'm a wizard? Yeah. They're alright with it.”

That was news to her. For reasons unknown, she had always assumed that witches and wizards immediately gave up contact with Muggles, and that Muggles would never understand or accept magic.

She didn't want the night to end. She felt free and happy, the same type of exhilaration she felt when she played Quidditch. She was released from all the things that plagued her mind - N.E.W.T.s, scouts, Draco, Zoë's boy crises, gossip. The colored lights glittered across her body, reflecting bright off the shine of her skin, filling her mind in a flash of radiance. She opened her eyes, and for a moment, she saw him, the dark hair, dark eyed stranger from her dreams. She had forgotten he existed until that very moment. He shook his head at her, she blinked, and he was gone.

Ginny turned to ask Gable if he had seen him, but as she looked over her shoulder, he leaned down and caught her lips in a kiss. Maybe it was the Muggle alcohol or the hypnotizing lights or maybe the lyrics of the song -

It started out with a kiss/How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss……
But she's touching his-chest/Now, he takes off her dress
Now, let me go

- but she stopped dancing, turned her body around and kissed him back. He doesn't kiss as good as Draco. He's a bit fast, too much tongue, but it's good. Decent. She had to force her mind to stop analyzing his kiss and all thoughts of the dark haired man were gone.

Oblivious to the music and the pulsing bodies surrounding them, Ginny kissed back, feeling some sort of unexplainable relief and a simultaneous heartbreaking desperation in kissing someone who wasn't Draco. But her mind would have none of it, and within seconds, she found herself pretending he was Draco.

The song had changed by the time they pulled apart; it was now louder and faster, and Gable tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smiled down at her, placed his hands possessively on her hips and crushed his pelvis against hers in time to the music.

I'm your boogie man, that's what I am
I'm here to do whatever I can…
wanna please you, to wanna please you
I wanna do it all, all for you…
I wanna be the one you love most of all

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Zoë next to her. The flashes of light made her movements fragmented, but Ginny could see her friend's head as it lolled backwards, and Joshua sucked on her neck as they ground against each other. In front of her was someone else, a Muggle Ginny assumed, dancing against her. She looked incredibly sexy and demonic at the same time.

Ginny was caught up in the delicious naughtiness of it all. Her mother would have just died, calling them all heathens. She knew she should have been safe in bed, sleeping, not enjoying the thundering music and sweat and heat and aroused bodies that were pressing against her while she let her mind believe that it was Draco.

When their night finally rolled to an end, some of them exchanged numbers with some of the Muggles they had met, which Ginny found rather odd, but then she assumed that some families might actually have those telyphone things. Gable let Ginny ride piggyback as they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron. She was exhausted, but still far too wired to close her eyes. She held onto his neck, savoring the feeling of his wide shoulders and strong back beneath her.

When it was their turn to Floo, he put her down and said, “You first”, then kissed her on the lips. “See you in the morning.”

She fell onto the common room floor, slightly tipsy and was immediately relieved to find only Helena and Rory.

“He's not so bad, is he?” Helena asked smugly, her words slurred.

“Then why'd you throw your potion on him?” Ginny giggled as Zoë and Bianca Flooed in behind her.

“Shh,” Zoë stumbled to her feet. “Oh gods! I am so drunk!”

“Let's go to bed,” Rory moaned. “It's almost 5!”

Colin, Henry Philips, and Sanford Stubaum Flooed in behind them.

“You're gonna wake people up,” Colin slurred. “Get going!”

The girls stumbled noisily to their beds, and collapsed into sleep with in minutes.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: The songs are, of course, The Killer's Mr Brightside & White Zombie's I'm Your Boogie Man. I heard remixes of them one night & they were good, so I wanted to use them. Also, I redid one of my old one shots, which I didn't like, Mine, and am making it into a double shot called Mine2. Go read it & tell me what you think!

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Thanks again for all the reviews. If anyone's interested, I have just finished my 1^st Prize Fic, which was also my 1^st attempt at a seriously smutty PWP. It's called Happy Birthday & I just got it posted.

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CHAPTER 11 Hangovers and Hookups

“I feel horrible!” was the first thing Ginny heard when she woke up.

“Shut up!” she tried to say, but stopped when she felt the horrid, nauseated feeling in her stomach.

Zoë threw the curtains to her bed open and handed her a small green vile. “Drink up!”

“No!” Ginny moaned. “I'm never drinking anything you recommend again!”

“It's a hangover potion,” she assured her. “You want this.”

Ginny nearly gagged as she downed the awful liquid, but immediately she began to feel better. “What time is it?” she yawned.

“Oh, about 3:30,” Bianca told her after swallowing her own potion.

“Are you serious?” Ginny sat up. “Someone's gonna suspect something!”

“So?” Helena challenged, pulling back her own curtains and accepting Zoë's glass. “They can't prove anything!”

“So,” Zoë sat down on the edge of Ginny's bed. “Gable isn't bad, is he?”

Ginny whimpered and pulled her pillow over her head. “Gable who?”

“Come on,” Zoë pulled the pillow away.

“I'm sorry to both of you,” Ginny rubbed her eyes. “For snogging your ex-boyfriend.”

“I didn't care,” Zoë shrugged. “I told Helena to go for it!”

“And I'm the one that told you that he fancied you!” Helena added.

“But I don't want a boyfriend,” Ginny complained. “I'm too busy.”

“Whatever,” Zoë rolled her eyes. “Just tell him that. He'll understand. You can just snog him when you need to!”

Ginny giggled. “I don't think so. I don't need any more rumors about me! Besides, you have serious hickeys on your neck.”

“I know,” she rubbed them absent mindedly. “Last night was great, wasn't it?”

They spent the remainder of their Saturday nibbling on food and laying around, Ginny purposely avoiding Gable, as well as Draco's suspicious gaze when she was stuck next to him when a staircase decided to move.

Sunday, Gable found her outside by the lake with Luna and Bianca, and joined them, sitting with his arm loosely around her. She could feel the burning eyes of gossiping students, and away from the heat and alcohol and passion of the nightclub, she squirmed uncomfortably, but he was oblivious.

Monday, he sat by her side in Potions class and she wished she could crawl under the floorboards and die. Draco's gaze was so fierce she could feel his eyes tearing at her skin, and she had never felt shallower in her entire 17 years. She felt like a total prat. Every person in the room probably assumed she was trying to make him jealous - although she swore to herself she wasn't.

On Wednesday, when she received her homework back from Draco, it had a large, red A at the top. Not an O, an A. For the first time since February, she looked up, willingly meeting his gaze. She wanted to tell him, “I'm sorry, I don't really like him. He was just there.” But she said nothing, just stared into his blank face until she could no longer handle the indifference he was so easily projecting.

“Professor Malfoy,” Helena's syrupy voice broke Ginny's thoughts. “Could you help me?”

“With what?” he asked stiffly.

“I don't know if this is just the right color,” she sighed dramatically. “What do you think?”

Draco stepped forward and glanced into her cauldron. “It looks fine.” He glanced up and Ginny's mouth dropped. Helena had one finger in her mouth and her robes were suddenly showing an eye full of cleavage.

Draco stepped back, and immediately his face was blank again, but he did shoot one quick look at Ginny. “Your essay was wonderful,” he told Helena. “The best I've seen.”

Ginny felt her stomach drop. How could he? How could he sink so bloody low? It wasn't her fault Gable hung onto her! She wanted to cry and scream and throw up.

As they walked to their DaDa class, Zoë grabbed Helena by the shoulder and spun her around. “Just what are you playing at?” she shouted.

“What are you talking about?” Helena shrugged out of her grasp.

“I'm talking about you, coming onto Professor Malfoy!”

“Isn't he single?” she asked sweetly.

“Show some respect for your dormmates, you bint!” Zoë shouted.

Ginny bit her lip and grabbed Gable's hand, pushing past Helena and marching towards Snape's class.

“Well, my dormmate is snogging my ex, isn't she?” Helena's voice rang down the hall.

***

After that, Draco made a point of speaking directly to Helena during class,a dn she flirted with him like a Veela in heat, while his eyes darted silently to Ginny, and Ginny silently glowered, but said nothing. Gable acted oblivious, although Ginny was positive he wasn't. Ginny wasn't sure why she was with him, allowing him to hold her hand and kiss her, because she wasn't interested. He was nice enough, and very good looking, but Ginny didn't want him.

She missed Draco.

After the game against Ravenclaw, which they had won by 290 points and she met with the scouts, promising that she'd be signed with one of them by the end of the school year, she decided to tell Gable. It was only fair, really. Besides, she was sick and tired of Helena's tirades and Draco's sullenness and Gable hanging onto her with every step she took.

“You were great!” he told her, kissing the back of her neck as she placed her broom in the shed.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “Now I've just got to choose which team I want!”

“Uh huh,” he said, his lips still attached to her skin.

She stepped away from him. “I'll probably go with the Canons. I think the Unions are offering more money, but I've always been partial to the Canons cause of my brother. He'll be so-”

Her words were cut short by Gable's mouth pressing into hers.

Ginny pulled back and gently shoved him away. “Look, I wanted to tell you something.”
“You don't have to,” he answered, his voice heavy, stepping forward.

“Really, I do. I just think that-”

Gable had her pressed into the broom shed and was kissing her neck. “I've wanted you for so long.”

“What are you doing?” Ginny struggled to sidestep him.

“Sh, sh.” He pressed his mouth into hers once again and she felt his hands snaking up the sides of her jumper.

“Stop!” she tried to snap, but her words were lost in his mouth.

One of his fingers had found its way underneath her bra, and the other was steadily trying to slip into her leather Quidditch trousers.

“Stop!” she managed to shout, using all her strength to shove him away. “What are you doing?”

“Congratulating you,” he answered, diving for her. He caught her wrists in his hands and pinned them above her head. “I know what you want. I've known since that night in London.” He tugged at her pants, groaning as he pressed his body into hers.

“Stop it!” she shrieked, angered and panicked.

Gable didn't stop. His hand had snaked down the front of her tight trousers, and he was grinding himself against her again, the same way he'd done in Muggle London, but this time, it filled Ginny with fear, not any type of wild abandon.

Tears of fear and frustration filled her eyes and she struggled to kick at him, but before she could, there was a thump, and a sudden movement, and Gable was no longer in front of her. For a moment she was confused, and then she realized that Gable was on the ground, and Draco was on top of him, pounding at him with his fists.

She watched in shock, as Draco's hand connected with Gable's nose and eyes and lips and jaw. When the blood began to pour from Gable's face, Ginny suddenly realized she should pull Draco off of him.

“That's enough!” she told him, tugging on his robes. “You're going to be fired!”

When Draco did stand to his feet, he kicked Gable several times and then turned to Ginny. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she nodded, beginning to shake. “No. I don't know.”

“Come on.” He led her back to the school, leaving Gable to find his own way back. “What did he do to you?” he demanded when he sat her down in his bedroom.

Ginny began to cry. “Nothing. He just tried.”

Draco held her as she cried, saying nothing, but stroking her hair and wiping away her tears.

Finally, she looked up at him and asked, “What were you doing out there?”

“I came to congratulate you,” he said quietly. “I heard you've been offered a contract.”

She smiled through her tears and nodded. “Yeah.”

Draco sighed. “We'd better go talk to Dumbledore. He'll want to know why I was having a Muggle duel with a student.”

“I don't want to talk to him,” Ginny shook her head. “I don't want anyone to know!”

“It's alright,” he hugged her. “It's not your fault.” As she spoke, there was a flash of flame in Draco's fireplace, and then a large red and gold phoenix feather floated to the stone floor.

“Dumbledore is waiting for us,” Draco said quietly.

Ginny looked at him fearfully.

“It's alright. You're not the one who did anything wrong.” He picked up Ginny's hand and then reached out to the feather.

Without warning, Ginny felt a sharp tug on her belly button and was surprised when they landed at the top of Dumbledore's staircase.

“Come in,” Dumbledore's voice rang out.

Dumbledore sat calmly behind his great desk, his hands folded and his expression calm. A sulking, bloodied and bruised Gable sat sullenly in one chair, while Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape stood at either side of him, their expressions equally grim.

“You'll be pleased to know that Mr. Pyrnne has already informed us of what has happened,” Dumbledore greeted them, motioning for Ginny to sit down. “We do, however, need your verification.”

Ginny stared at the corner of Dumbledore's desk, ignoring McGonagall as she stepped closer and refusing to look at Draco.

“Whenever you are ready,” McGonagall said calmly.

Ginny opened her mouth and to her surprise the words came out.

When she was through, Dumbledore nodded. “Very well. That is what Mr. Pyrnne told us.”

Ginny's relief overcame her surprise.

“Now, the only question that remains is whether or not you would like to press charges.”

The room was completely silent. Even Fawkes and the portraits were hushed, waiting her answer.

“No,” she answered slowly. “No, I don't want to do that.”

“Very well,” Dumbledore nodded, turning to Snape. “If you could escort Mr. Pyrnne to the hospital wing, then? His parents will be here shortly.”

Ginny refused to look up as he left the room, knowing that his eyes were digging into her skin.

“However,” Dumbledore continued after they were gone, “it is only right that I speak with you about this . . . atrocity as well, Professor.”

Draco nodded stiffly.

“I think it would be fair to say that I will not be asking you to fill a teaching position next year.” His eyes twinkled over his glasses.

“Really?” Draco glanced up.

“I have it on good authority that your inheritance is to be given back to you soon.”

Draco nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“Now Ms. Weasley, would you want to go see Madam Pomfrey?”

Ginny shook her head. “No. I'll be alright.”

“Then I assume I can safely trust you to escort Ms. Weasley back to her dorm?” he asked Draco. “I believe they are having a celebration in there. And Minerva if you could just stay here one moment.”

“I don't really want to go back there yet,” Ginny told Draco as they made their way up the stairs. “I think I'll just go to the library for a while or something.”

“Come back to my room,” Draco suggested. “I have some papers to grade and you can rest.”

Ginny bit her lip. “I think I just want to be alone. Thank you though.” Walking away from him was just about the hardest thing she'd ever done.

When she finally went back to her room, she admitted what had happened to Zoë and Bianca, who raged and cried with her.

“But, then,” Bianca finally asked, “why didn't you go with Professor Malfoy?”

“I just couldn't,” Ginny whispered, a fresh crop of tears erupting. “I don't know. I wanted to, but I couldn't.”

“Why not?” Zoë asked, over and over. “You have something with him. Something, I can't explain it, but it's there, Gin. Stop fighting him. Forgive him.”

“I did.”

“You didn't. Otherwise you'd be in his room. Not ours.”

“Don't do this to yourself, Ginny,” Bianca pleaded with her. “You haven't been happy since you had that row.”

“I know,” Ginny sobbed into her pillow.

“I'm sorry about Gable. I had no idea he would . . . try that,” Zoë whispered, stroking her back.

“It's not your fault,” Ginny sighed, rubbing the tears from her eyes. “He didn't get to do anything though.”

“No, but still,” Zoë protested. “Look, you aren't happy. I know it, Bianca knows it, you know it. Just go to him.”

“What if that stupid bint is with him?” Ginny fumbled for excuses. “Helena's been hanging all over him.”

“She's in bed,” Bianca giggled.

“Oh. Oops.”

“Forget it,” Zoë shrugged. “Gable approached her about you, you know. He said if she could set him up with you, that would clear the way to Professor Malfoy.”

Ginny sighed. “I hate everyone.”

“No you don't,” Bianca picked up her hand. “Come on. I'll give you a glamour charm and you go talk to Professor Malfoy.”

“I can't!”

“Yes you can!” Zoë snapped. “Do you really want to spend the rest of your life wondering if things would have worked out? Wondering what your life would be like if only you had forgiven him? If things don't work out this time, well, then you'll know. You won't have to wonder. I think risking being hurt and knowing is preferable to wondering because you wanted to be safe!”

Ginny sat up. “Why did I even trust him in the first place? I had no reason to!”

“Dear gods, Gin!” Zoë sighed. “You can't go around not trusting every person you meet!”

“Right now,” Ginny rubbed her eyes, “I just want to go to bed.”

She stripped off her Quidditch clothes and performed a quick cleansing charm before pulling her cotton gown over her head and crawling into bed.

“Gin honey,” Bianca's voice reached her ears. “We love you.”

“Love you too,” she murmured before drifting off to sleep.

-->

Sorry, this chapter's probably not as long as you'd like, but it's here, hot off the presses. (And I've got a final at 7:30 in the morning!!!) So, if you weren't aware, I've posted a seriously smutty prize fic called Happy Birthday, r + r that if you haven't please! Also, I'm gonna post a piece in my LJ called Gives Up that may or may not end up here soon. And that's because I'm not sure where it's going. If you could leave comments/advice/criticism (constructive please) that would be most helpful.

PS. Only 1 more chapter of this to go!

CHAPTER 12 Just Friends

With N.E.W.T.s looming in just over a month, the seventh years were running full throttle. Homework was being piled on them, so much that Ginny and her friends finally decided to divide it up. They each did what they were best at and everyone else copied. It was the only way to get the assignments done. A typical day involved getting up at 5 am to finish homework, scarfing down breakfast while quizzing each other, heading off to classes for lectures, impossible assignments, and mental breakdowns, skipping lunch to get a head start on the latest task, more classes, falling asleep during dinner, to the library to study until 10, then to the common room to study until 1 or 2 am. Even her dreams were filled with DaDa spells or potions ingredients or Transfiguration techniques.

Ginny was ready to give up. Everyone's stress levels were so high that fights kept breaking out. Zoë and Bianca got into a row when Zoë couldn't find her quill - it was in her bag - and then Zoë and Bianca ganged up on Helena when she had the gall to ask for help on her DaDa assignment. Colin had taken to wearing ear plugs and Ginny was beginning to consider doing the same.

On top of all that, Gable's absence hadn't gone unnoticed, and someone, probably Helena, and let it slip that Ginny had slept with him, and then gotten mad and claimed rape. More than once Ginny's fingers had itched to push the bint down a staircase or at least shove her off a moving one.

She and Draco smiled nervously at each other when they passed in the halls or caught each other's eyes in the Great Hall, but that was it. Occasionally he asked how her studies were going, and he was quick to take away unreasonable amounts of points to anyone who even appeared to be gossiping about the Ginny Gable incident, as Zoë called it. There were nights when she wanted nothing more than to slam her books shut, forget about her assignments and creep down to his room. Then she could curl up under the covers with him and just forget about everything. She missed those times. A lot.

When N.E.W.T.s finally arrived, Ginny was more relieved that nervous. She couldn't cram one single more thing inside her head, and wanted to get it over with before she forgot anything. In the end, she felt that she did fairly well on all her subjects, except perhaps, the written Astronomy exam which detailed the chemical composition of the galaxy. After that, they only had two more weeks of school, one week of classes, which was rather pointless since N.E.W.T.s were over and then a week of nothing before the Hogwarts Express shipped them back to the real world.

Sunday evening, Ginny was sprawled outside with her mates, soaking up the fading sun and discussing what to do now.

“This is it,” Zoë sighed. “All the things we know are leaving.”

Bianca nodded. “So now what? What is the `real world' like?”

“We are in the real world,” Luna reminded them airily.

Ginny stifled a giggle. “But the world away from Hogwarts. What are we going to do next?”

“You're supposed to know by now,” Colin announced, dropping down beside them.

“Easy for you to say,” Zoë teased. “You've been taking pictures since forever!”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Not to mention Taste Magazine liked my fashion photos of your cousin and offered me an internship!”

Eventually, Luna wandered off to “owl Neville” and Colin dozed in the grass beside the three girls.

“When do you start with the Canons?” Bianca asked finally.

“August,” Ginny answered. “They want me to find a flat near Chudley, but I don't know. I can't afford it yet.”

“Ask Professor Malfoy to get one for you,” Zoë giggled. “I heard he's getting his fortune back!”

Ginny rolled her eyes and smiled. “I'll just commute until I get paid!”
“So,” Bianca drawled, “have you two decided anything?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what's going to happen when you leave here?”

Ginny shrugged. “Nothing. Nothing's happening now, so I don't know why anything would happen later.” She stood to her feet and poked Colin. “Let's go eat.”

After dinner, Ginny played with her galaxy globe while Zoë painted her toenails and Colin photographed her.

“Here,” Zoë reached out when she was done. “I'll paint your toes.”

Ginny let her, not paying attention to the commotion in the room and wondered what playing for a profession Quidditch team would be like.

After she had climbed in bed, Bianca's voice reached her ears. “Gin?”

“Yeah?” She sat up and opened the curtains.

“I'm not trying to bug you, but I just don't want you to miss out on anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you should go talk to Professor Malfoy, see how he feels and see how you feel.”

Ginny sighed and lay back in her bed. “I can't. I already told you.”

“You know,” Bianca said, crossing the room and sitting at the edge of Ginny's bed, “you've got to get over this. What are you going to do? Live your life in a bubble so that no one can ever hurt you? I hate to break it to you, but you can't do that. Get over this! I'm sorry he hurt you and I'm sorry Gable tried to shag you, but it's time to move on!”

Ginny gaped at her friend.

“Have you never, ever done anything to hurt someone before?”

Ginny's eyes widened and she was silent for a moment and then began to giggle. “I can't believe you said that!”

From across the room, Zoë began to laugh as well. “I thought that was me talking! Except I obviously don't have the courage to say that to you.”

“I'm sorry,” Bianca sputtered, “but it's true. I just don't want you to throw anything away that you'll regret forever.”

“I don't even know how to go back to him,” Ginny sighed. “What if he doesn't want me?”

“Then you'll know. At least you'll know,” Zoë told her. “And if you know, you can move on.”

“Besides,” Bianca added, “do you really think he would have held out for you for so bloody long if he didn't?”

She chewed at her lower lip. “But what if . . .”

“Stop! If you go down there, there won't be any what ifs.”

Ginny swallowed nervously. “I'm scared.”

“Stop that!” Bianca pulled her to her feet and tossed her a pair of denim shorts and a tank top.

Tears began to well in her eyes. “No. I'm scared. I can't do it.”

“Yes!” Bianca hissed, grabbing her by the shoulders. “If I didn't love you, I wouldn't do this! Come on. This is not the Ginny I know and love. The Ginny I know is ferocious and can be quite bitchy when it comes to getting what she wants. And I know you want Professor Malfoy.”

A small smile began to play on her face.

“Do you really think he's going to hurt you again?” Zoë asked. “I don't. If he didn't care so much he would have moved on. He only took this job because of you. He didn't really need the money, Gin. He had no other reason to stay.”

Ginny found herself being marched out of the Gryffindor tower, down the stairs, and into the dungeons. “Let go of me!” she hissed. “I can do this.”

“No. You can but you won't,” Zoë said flatly.

“I will!”

Bianca and Zoë didn't let her go until she was directly in front of Draco's bedroom door. Zoë reached up to knock, but Ginny grabbed her arm.

“Snape's room is down here! You'll wake him!” She sucked in a deep breath and whispered the password, and to her surprise, it still worked. The door silently swung open. Ginny glanced at her two best friends.

Bianca nodded, and Ginny felt Zoë's hand on her back, giving her a light shove. She crept into the room, dark except for one low candle. She could make out Draco's sleeping form curled underneath his sheets. She missed him. She did.

****

“Ginny?”

She could hear someone calling her name.

“Gin, what are you doing?”

She managed to pull her eyes part, which were swollen from the night's crying. Draco was looking down at her.

“Are you alright?'

She nodded and glanced around. She was still in his room - in his bed, in fact, and he was leaned over her, propped on his elbow. She'd slept incredibly well; better than she'd slept in ages. Draco's arm had found its way around her during the night and she'd been reassured. But right now, the expression on his face wasn't promising.

“When . . . when did you get here?”

“Last night. I didn't want to wake you.” Her heart was fast sinking. Draco didn't look pleased to see her; he just looked confused. “Sorry.” She began to sit up, wishing she had never come here. She had waited too long, the chance was gone.

“Don't leave.”

Ginny froze.

Draco reached for her arm and pulled her close. “I haven't slept that good in . . . in a long time.”

She raised her arms, lowered them, and then tentatively placed them around his back in a nervous hug.

“So what does this mean?” he asked, his face pressed into her shoulder.

“I don't know,” she admitted. “I, I wanted to tell you thank you. For everything, you know.”

“That's it?” He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away, his silver eyes searching her.

“I don't, I just, I mean . . .” The words refused to leave her mouth. Why couldn't she just say it, just tell him that she wanted to start over, to give him another chance? “I missed you.” Oh gods, tears were forming again and he had pushed her away.

-->

CHAPTER 13 Forgiveness

“Don't cry, Gin,” Draco tilted her chin up. “Please don't.” He kissed her forehead. “I just need to know what this means. I don't want to get my hopes up and have them crushed again.”
She had never before heard Draco quite so honest.

“Does this mean you want to try again?”

She nodded, delirium washing through her. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “We can take it slowly this time.”

“If that's what you want.” He pulled her into his lap and covered her face with kisses. “So tell me about being offered a contract by three teams,” he asked, a smile in his voice.

Ginny let out a tiny giggle. “Union offered me a lot of money, but the Canon's offered me a second string position. Plus, Ron's always been partial to the Canon's. So I went with them.”

Draco groaned. “You're going to play for Weasel's favorite team?'

“Hey!”

Draco smirked. “It doesn't matter. I'll be there to watch you.”

Ginny snuggled deeper inside his arms, the comfort and protection exactly what she needed and had spent so many nights longing for. She realized now that she had been a fool. She had tortured herself needlessly out of fear. “I owe you something,” she confessed.

“What?”

“Floo powder.”

“You took it?” he asked, confusion in his voice.

“Uh huh,” she ducked her head.

“Why?”

“Um, we went to London.”

“To London?'

“To a Muggle club. A nightclub.”

“A Muggle nightclub?”

“It was fun.”

“Who went?” he asked, his eyebrow arched high.

“A bunch of us.”

Draco shook his head. “What was it like?”

Ginny laughed. “I thought you disliked all things Muggle!”

He shrugged.

“It was fun. We danced and drank and . . . we should go.”

“Should we?”

“Yeah. You have to have these things called fake ids, but Zoë can make them. This summer, after graduation.”

“Before you start to become a famous Quidditch star?” he teased.

“Right. I might not have time for those kind of things, you know!”

“You better.”

“Only if you're there.”

“Sounds good,” he told her.

“Are you serious?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Very.” He sighed and pulled away from her. “I hate to say this, but my first class starts in 15 minutes and we're both supposed to be there!”

“What?” Ginny squeaked. “I'm never going to get ready!” Then she gasped. “How am I going to get out of here without getting caught?”

Draco stood. “How about you just stay here until class starts and then you go get ready. I can excuse you from the first half of class since we're not really doing anything.”

“Really?” Ginny smiled, pulling his blankets back to her chin.

“Really.” He leaned down to kiss her forehead and quickly hurried to his bathroom.

When Ginny slunk into the Potions classroom an hour later, Draco merely gazed at her, his expression blank; several students gaped openly when he did not yell and take points, and Helena glowered. Ginny couldn't resist throwing a smirk in her direction.

She took up with Colin and Luna, helping them finish a Glory potion.

“I take it you two made up,” Luna whispered.

Ginny shrugged. “What makes you say that?”

She giggled. “Maybe because he hasn't taken any points today? Maybe because he didn't explode when you walked in an hour late?”
“I was busy,” Ginny smiled.

“Uh huh. Right.” Luna shrugged. “Well, I'm glad. It was getting really annoying!”

They exchanged glances and smiles that they tried to keep secret, and when the dismissal bell rang, Draco called out, “Ms. Weasley, come see me for your assignments.”

“Yes, Professor?” Ginny drawled when the classroom emptied. “My assignments?”

“Meet me for lunch this Saturday, by the lake.”

Ginny giggled. “I think I can handle that.”

With a few quick strides, he had crossed the room and engulfed her in his arms. She breathed in his warm, familiar scent and once again, felt secure in his grasp.

****

Draco held her hand at graduation. Ron's ears turned bright red. Hermione sat close to Harry and Ron's new girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson, was giggling at Ron's enraged expression. “What in the bloody hell is that, that Slytherin doing to my sister?” he demanded loudly.

“I was in Slytherin too, love,” Ginny heard Pansy drawl in his ear. Ginny'd have to ask her brother how that happened when they were alone.

Ginny's future boss, manager of the Canon's came to congratulate her and tell her he looked forward to her arrival.

Her father shook Draco's hand rather firmly, as did Percy. Bill, Charlie, and the twins exchanged glances before inviting Draco out for drinks that evening. Draco looked like he'd rather die, but said yes anyways. Her mother, who had been speaking with Dumbledore, hurried over and hugged Ginny before sizing Draco up and then engulfing him in a hug as well. Dumbledore caught Ginny's eyes and gave her a small smile, and she wondered exactly what he had told her mum.

When the ceremony was finished, Bill hugged her and told her that they were going to Hogsmead for drinks.

“I want to go too,” Ginny said quickly.

“No way,” Charlie interjected. “This is Wizard's business.”

“Don't be silly,” Ginny sniffed. “I graduated. I'm going.”

“Actually,” Percy reminded her, “you have one more night at Hogwarts, and then you can do whatever you want. You're not allowed to leave the grounds tonight.”

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her brothers. “If you hurt him, I will repay you,” she swore. “I will make every hex you know seem tame!”

“Relax,” Bill rolled his eyes. “We're not going to hurt him, just have drinks with him.”

Ginny gave them one final warning before going back to Draco. “So you're going for drinks now?” she asked him.

Draco blanched slightly and nodded. “That's what they said.”

“Good luck,” Ginny sighed dramatically.

“Why did I have to fall in love with the witch who has several dozen older brothers?” Draco teased.

Ginny froze for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. “You love me?”

“Do you think I would have spent so much time and energy into getting you and getting you back if I didn't?”
Ginny only smiled because her mouth suddenly couldn't form any words.

“So,” Draco asked, glancing around to make sure they were alone, “are you sleeping in your bed tonight?”

“I guess so,” she answered, finding her voice and temporarily confused.

“Too bad. I was hoping I'd get back from the verbal beating I'm going to get and find you sleeping in my bed.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, really. Then we'll see what we can do,” Ginny smiled. “You better go.”

“Right.” He stepped away and then turned around. “I love you.”

Inside, Ginny jumped for joy. It was the first time he'd ever said those words, but on the outside she remained calm. “I love you too.”

When her family left, Ginny went back to the Gryffindor Tower for the last time. She stayed in there until 11:30, drinking butterbeer, reminiscing, and celebrating with her friends, and then she crept unnoticed to Draco's room. Once inside Draco's room, she stripped off all her clothes and then slid between the sheets.

Ginny woke when the bed moved slightly. In the darkness she could see Draco, slipping in next to her. “How'd it go?” she whispered.

“Pretty awful,” he groaned dramatically. “They basically said that if I hurt you in any way, shape, or form, they would feed me to Charlie's dragons.” He paused, and she could smell the faint, intoxicating scent of his cologne. “It was hard to be serious though. I kept having visions of you in my bed.”

Ginny let out a sleepy giggle and pulled him closer.

“Forget your pajamas?” he teased.

“Something like that.”

Draco's hand slid up the outside of her thigh as he drew her closer. “I like you when you're forgetful.”

She didn't respond with words, but pressed her lips into his and curled her body to fit neatly into his own. She lowered her hand to his bare stomach and traced her fingers across the prominent outlines of his muscles and let her mouth wander across his neck and to his ear.

“Are you sure, Gin?” he asked heavily, his fingers caressing her face. “Do you want this?”

“Yes,” she whispered back into his ear. “I want you.”

That was all the invitation he needed, and his hands slid to her bare breasts, kneading them softly and gently squeezing her nipples between his fingers. Ginny quickly moved her hands to tug his boxers down and moaned into his neck as she felt him grow hard against her legs.

One of Draco's hands was already slipping down her stomach and finding its way between her legs. The mere thought of his touch was too much to resist and she tilted her hips towards him, encouraging his fingers. She gasped with desire as his finger grazed her clit and then slipped easily inside. “Please,” she gasped, thrusting her hips to meet his fingers. It had been too long since she'd had him, and she didn't want to waste time on foreplay.

Ginny draped one leg over him, giving him more access and began to grind her hips against his, moaning as his cock slipped between her thights, not entering her but sliding back and forth between the slick folds of her sex.

“Tell me what you want Gin Gin,” he commanded, his lips and teeth grazing her skin.

“You, I want you,” she whimpered back.

“Tell me, tell me how.”

“I want you inside me,” she told him, all shame gone. “I need you inside me. I want to feel you come inside of me. I need you to fuck me so hard I won't be able to walk tomorrow.”

With one move Draco had rolled her on top of him and swiftly sent her down on his waiting cock.

The shameless moan that left her lips sounding nothing like Ginny, but she was too busy grating her clit against Draco's pale curls to care.

“Ride me, Gin,” he groaned, sitting up and burying his face in her breasts, sucking each one.

She ignored him and for the moment, concentrated solely on her pleasure. The sex was slow and leisurely, as if they expected that the night would never end. Draco caressed her nipples and sucked sweetly on her neck, letting her simply roll her hips back and forth, and when she brought her hands up to stroke her own breasts, Draco tilted his hips slightly, knowing her orgasm was near.

A series of small groans escaped Ginny's mouth and she tightened herself around Draco's cock as her orgasm flooded her body with warmth. She let her body fall to his, shuddering as Draco reached between them with his hand and gently rubbed her clit.

After a moment, he brushed her hair from her face and smoothly rolled them over again. Carefully, as if she were a delicate blossom he lowered himself into her, moaning loudly as he lifted up and then pressed back down. She drew up her knees to give him more access and was rewarded by Draco pressing so deep into her she swore she could feel him in her stomach. She locked her ankles around his back, urging him to stay deep inside of her. His strokes were smooth and steady and unhurried, and when he came, she tightened around him to make sure she took every last drop he had to offer. Ginny was suddenly sure she knew where the term `love making' had come from.

They fell asleep still naked and sweaty and wet, wrapped together inside each other, and Ginny had never felt so good.

*****

When Ginny woke, she was suddenly overcome with the fear that she wouldn't see Draco anymore. She rolled over under his arm and faced him, taking in his messy blond hair and lovely pink lips and high smooth cheekbones. She couldn't stand to be without him. Not anymore.

“Draco. Draco, wake up!”

“What's wrong?” he mumbled, looking around. “Are we late?”

“No. It's barely 7.”

“Right.” His head fell back to his pillow.

“Draco listen!” she asked desperately. “I have to tell you something.”

“What Gin Gin? What's wrong?”

“I don't want to go home. I don't want to lose you or leave you. I can't stand to be away from you anymore!”

Draco sat up and rubbed his eyes. As the covers slipped down, she was pleased to see that he was immodestly naked. He titled his head and looked at her sleepily. “You woke me up to tell me that?”

“Yes,” she nodded miserably, trying to stare at her hands and not his luscious body.

“Gin,” he groaned. “You crazy witch. I love you! I agreed to have drinks with your brothers! Why in the bloody hell would you be worried about this?”

“Because, today I'll have to go back to my house and you'll go home and then I'll have to move to Chudley-”

“You're ruining my surprise.”

“And you'll be in London or wherever and I'll never-” she paused. “What surprise?”

“Go back to sleep and I'll tell you in about two hours,” he sighed, flopping back down.

“No! Tell me!”

He huffed indignantly and sat up again. “I bought a flat in Chudley. Nothing fancy, but it's got three bedrooms and the bathroom's are really nice. Plus I've got one of the house elves staying there now.”

Ginny didn't know what to say first. “A three bedroomed flat is nothing fancy?”

“Well,” he shrugged, tugging her down to him, “it's not the Manor.”

“Why did you buy it?”

“So we could live there of course!” he rolled his eyes.

“Really?”

“Really.”

Ginny closed her eyes for a moment and began to smile. Suddenly she stood up and began jumping up and down on the bed. “Thank you! Thank you!”

“No, thank you,” he raised his eyebrows, watching with interest as her breasts bobbed up and down. “Keep doing that.”

Ginny giggled and knelt down. “I love you. I do.”

“Good,” he answered, wrapping his arms around her. “Then maybe after this Quidditch season, you'll consider marrying me.”

“Are you asking?” she questioned.

“I'm making my intentions known to you,” he smirked. “I already did that to your brothers.”

“Oh did you?” This time Ginny's eyebrows shot up.

“I did.”

“And they said?”

“They didn't like it, but they'll get used to it.”

Ginny nodded happily and let him hold her against his chest.

“I love you too,” he whispered in her ear.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N Well, this is over. For those who are interested, I've got two things coming up. One is a very short “fluffy” type story called Lip Gloss, the rough draft of which can be viewed in my LJ right here. The other is going to be a longer, VERY dark story. I can't say much about it now, but it will NOT have a happy ending, it will have lots of deaths, a kidnapping, and nothing very happy at all. Suddenly I feel like Lemony Snicket. Except this will be SO much darker! Thanks for all the reviews!

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