Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling, etc etc.

Authors Note: Yay, next chapter, booyah! Sorry for the delay, had a busy weekend. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and most importantly - enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen

Draco spent the next week planning. He was determined to fulfil the bet and humiliate the little Weasel before the entire school. But to do that, he had to reset things. He had to make Ginny Weasley believe in him. He understood that now. Ginny would never open up to Draco, but maybe she'd open up to a different Draco. So Draco waited, letting the red headed firecracker cool off, before he finally put his plan into motion.

Draco found Ginny sitting outside in the courtyard, nestling an open book on her lap and chewing on her quill, frowning down at the book. Draco watched her for a few moments, as her hair blew in the light wind like wild fiery tendrils of flame. Taking a breath and hardening himself to the task, he started forwards.

As his shadow descended over her book, Ginny looked up, her pretty face instantly changing into a fierce look of anger, her brown eyes narrowed.

"Woah," Draco said, holding his hands in a sign of surrender, "calm down. I'm not here to bug you. I just wanted...well, could we talk?" Draco played up his nervousness, hoping it would appease her somewhat.

"Talk?" Ginny asked, her eyes narrowing further with suspicion. "About what?"

"Us." Draco said.

"There is no us Malfoy," Ginny countered, looking down at her book, dismissing him.

"Yeah," Draco said, running a hand through his sleek hair, "but listen, I just want a word, and that's it."

"How about 'go away'?" Ginny asked snidely, not even bothering to look up from her book. "Oh darn, that's two."

Draco smiled, unable to help himself. She was definitely a spirited one.

"Funny," he said, "but I'm serious. Would you look at me?" He demanded, putting his hand over the page so she couldn't pretend to read.

"Piss off Malfoy!" Ginny snarled, yanking her book away from him.

This drew the attention of the rest of the students milling about the courtyard, who turned to watch the spectacle. Whispers erupted as to why Draco Malfoy was talking to Ginny Weasley, but Draco ignored them.

"Can we talk privately?" he whispered, bending his head down to be closer to her so she could hear him.

"Ugh," Ginny grunted, getting up and slamming her book shut, sticking her quill in her pocket, "you are the most annoying prat I've ever met, even more than Ron!"

Then she grabbed him by the arm and hauled him away from the crowd, around the corner. She let him go, and Draco rubbed at his arm where she had grabbed him none too gently, as she looked around to check for eavesdroppers. Turned her head back to glare at him, she demanded:

"Well?"

"I'm sorry," Draco said, plunging head long into his plan, lowering his eyes for effect.

"You're...what?" Ginny blundered, clearly taken aback.

"I'm sorry," Draco whispered, "I'm sorry that I upset you. I just...I thought that you might be interested, but I guess...anyway, I won't bother you again. I just wanted to tell you that. And that I'm sorry."

Draco shrugged, lowering his head even further and burying his hands in his pockets. Ginny was staring at him with her mouth ajar. Finally getting control of herself, she snapped her mouth shut and looked at him ponderingly.

"Really?"

"Really." Draco returned. "I promise."

"I...Okay, thank you." Ginny said, still in shock.

When Draco looked up, he saw her fiddling with the quill again, before sticking it in her mouth, shrugging, and walking away with a casual wave. He smiled, which soon turned into a smirk. Oh yeah, he was good.

Part One of plan to humiliate Ginny Weasley was a success. Proceed to Part Two.

(----)

As promised, Harry was waiting for Hermione in the library. Today was the day he would meet Hermiones friend Neville Longbottom, the almost Boy Who Lived. Or would he have lived? Who knows, either way, this little meeting was going to be interesting.

Ever since Hermione had mentioned wanting to introduce him to Neville, Harry had been curious. He had started to ponder the Longbottom kid, and thoughts and theories eventually followed. He could be a powerful alley. After all, the prophecy was made about the child born at the end of July, meaning either himself or Neville Longbottom. Only Voldemort had chosen Harry, and not Neville, but still, one has to wonder. Both boys should have the ability to defeat Voldemort inside them, seeing as the prophecy was made about them, or at least that's how Harry saw it, so both he and Neville had to have the power in them.

But from what he had heard and learnt about Longbottom, he apparently was a clueless wizard; some even said he was almost a Squib. Harry couldn't believe that. Neville had to have the power in him. So what was blocking it? Whatever it was, Harry was determined to find it. Harry liked the idea of having Neville watch his back, even though he hadn't even met the kid yet.

Harry also knew that Neville's parents where in St. Mungo's, terminally insane due to being tortured with the Cruciatus Curse following Voldemort's first downfall. That had to give Neville some desire for revenge.

Before any further musing could be done, Hermione appeared, followed by a timid looking chubby boy. Neville Longbottom definitely didn't look like the formidable type, but Harry could see it in him, just looking at him. A little exercise (something most wizards disregarded completely) and training and he would be a prime fighter for Harry's side.

Hermione beamed at him as she approached him, stopping by his chair and leaning down to kiss his cheek. Harry looked past her to see Neville regarding him with curiosity and suspicion. That was good, at least he was cautious.

"Neville," Hermione said, turning to face her friend, "this is Harry. Harry, this is Neville Longbottom."

"Hey Neville," Harry said.

"Hi." Neville returned quietly.

"Why don't you sit down," Hermione said, "and ah...I'll go see if I can find that book you wanted. You two talk, I'll be right back."

And then she bailed, practically running behind one of the stacks. Harry smiled, knowing what she was up to. Deciding not to disappoint his girlfriend, he turned to face her friend and held out his hand, across the table. Neville regarded it curiously for a moment, and then shook it, a little stiffly.

"So," Harry began, but Neville interrupted him:

"What are you playing at?" Neville asked, trying valiantly to hide how terrified of confronting Harry he was, but determined to do so. Got to admire those brave Gryffindors.

Harry laughed. "I'm not playing at anything," Harry said, "but I admire your courage and value your loyalty to Hermione. She's a great witch, and she deserves more than what she has. True friends, like you."

"And you?" Neville asked. "What do you get out of this? I don't understand it. You can have anyone you want. Why Hermione? Is this some sort of game, are you planning on hurting her?" Neville took a huge breath after his rant, and Harry noticed his rather large meaty fists clenched on the table between them.

"Hey," Harry said, his hands up in surrender, "I swear to you, I'm not going to hurt Hermione. Do you think she's not good enough for me?"

Neville stared at Harry, and then took a deep breath. "I don't think you're good enough for her."

Harry laughed again.

"Stop laughing at me!" Neville shouted, standing up abruptly.

"Woah," Harry stood as well, hands up again, "calm down. I'm not laughing at you. I just think it's funny, that's all. Not many people would stand up to me, but you do, because of Hermione - for Hermione. I respect that. I respect you for that. She does that to people. It's one of the things I love about her."

Neville continued to regard him with suspicion.

"Look," Harry said, "I happen to agree with you. I don't deserve Hermione, but it's not up to me. It's not up to you, either. It's her choice. And until she tells me to piss off, I'm going to be with her. So you have to accept it or risk losing her friendship. I understand if you don't trust me. I'm okay with it, but I'd like you to give me a chance. I know what people say about me. Give me a chance to prove them wrong."

"Why should I?" Neville asked.

"Because Hermione did," Harry said, "and the cleverest witch in Hogwarts believes in me and trusts me. You'd be an idiot to overlook that fact."

"Erm," Hermione was back, standing at the mouth of aisle of books and holding one close to her chest, staring at them nervously, "is something wrong?"

"No," Harry said, sitting down again, "everything's fine. Isn't that right Neville?"

"..." Neville looked at Hermione, and then back to Harry, before looking at Hermione again. "Yeah, everything's fine. We were just...talking."

"Okay." Hermione said, crossing to them and taking a seat beside Harry, though Harry knew she didn't believe them. He would explain to her later. For now, he had to continue to try and steer Neville's distrust for him down a nicer path, one hopefully leading to a safer relationship of trust - a relationship of two people with the same goals.

(----)

Draco let things lie for a week or so before he put phase two of his plan into action. Saturday morning saw Draco rising early, meeting Harry as he too climbed out of his bed at almost the exact same time. Draco bid him a good morning as he passed to the bathroom, and when he emerged half an hour later, fresh and clean from his shower, he found Harry sitting downstairs in the empty Slytherin common room. Draco took a seat near him.

"Hey Harry," Draco greeted his friend again.

"Morning," Harry returned.

"Do me a favour?" Draco asked, getting right to the point.

Harry lowered the book he was reading and peered at Draco suspiciously. "What?"

"Lend me your Invisibility Cloak?" Draco clarified, giving Harry his best grin.

Harry laughed. "What for?"

"Just got something to do...." Draco said, not wanting to get into details with his best friend at this point. He knew Harry wouldn't be too thrilled about him using his Cloak to ultimately get his own back and humiliate a girl.

Harry narrowed his eyes, but apparently decided to let Draco off for the time being. "Fine," Harry said, "but don't lose it or damage it, or I'll have your head, got it?" Harry grin made the threat playful and Draco laughed, nodding.

"You got it." He said.

Draco retrieved the Cloak from Harry and then left the common room. It took him a long time to find Ginny, but he eventually did, just as the sun was reaching its peak. He spotted the familiar red hair through the crowd in the entrance hall and quickly ducked into an alcove out of view.

He saw her talking to a girl with long dirty coloured blonde hair. Ginny said something to the girl and she nodded before walking away, leaving Ginny standing at the mouth of the corridor leading to the west tower. Judging by the letter clutched in her hand, Draco figured she was heading for the Owlery at the top of the west tower. He grinned and quickly took one of the shortcuts he and Harry knew, putting his plan into motion.

(----)

"Yeah, I agree," Ginny was saying, talking to the girl with the blonde hair - Luna Lovegood, "but listen, I really have to send this letter first, and then I'll come and meet you in the Great Hall and we can look it up together, okay?"

"Okay," Luna agreed, nodding her head a little, "I'll wait for you."

"See ya," Ginny called, as Luna turned and began to walk away. Luna turned and started walking backwards, giving Ginny a tiny wave as she went, before she turned again and disappeared into the Great Hall.

Ginny then looked down at the letter in her hand, addressed to her mother, and then set off for the west tower and the Owlery. She had asked Ron if she could borrow his owl Cannonball, and he had agreed reluctantly, as was usual for her Brother. He didn't like anyone messing with his pets, after the mess with his last one, a rat named Scabbers that turned out be a wizard Animagus called Peter Pettigrew.

After their mother bought him Cannonball from a friend who lived over in America, Ron had become over protective towards his pet. Cannonball was a rather large grey coloured Great Horned Owl. Ginny wanted to call him Pigwidgeon, but Ron steadfastly refused her. She tried using the name around the owl, hoping he would like the name, but she had no such lock. Every time she called Cannonball Pigwidgeon he just turned his golden eyes her way and glared. In the end, she just gave up and agreed to whatever Ron decided, which was Cannonball, after his favourite Quidditch team the Chudley Cannons.

Ginny was making her way up west tower when she heard the sobbing. She came to a stop, listening. It came again, great wracking sobs coming from the Owlery. Was someone up there? Obviously, but why where they crying? Ginny was going to turn around and come back later, she didn't want to intrude, but her curiosity got the better of her and she started to creep up the stony steps.

Ginny came to a quiet stop at the door and eased it open slightly, peering in. What she saw shocked her beyond belief. Draco Malfoy was hunched over, sitting on the floor, holding a crumpled up letter and bawling his eyes out. It looked like he was trying not to cry, or at least not to make a sound, as his body was shaking from the unreleased tears. But he wasn't doing a very good job, and tears leaked down his pale face. He looked a mess.

Ginny didn't know what to do. After all, it was Draco Malfoy. What would he do if she revealed herself to him? Would he hurt her? She wasn't sure. But why was he crying? Ginny was desperate to know and once again her curiosity got the better of her. She slowly eased open the door and stepped into the room. The wind hit her face and she gasped when the door slammed behind her with great force, startling herself and Malfoy.

Malfoy jumped to his feet, staring at her in shock, his eyes rimmed red from the tears. His eyes narrowed, but then he just lowered his head and started to walk towards her sedately, and Ginny realised what he was doing. He was going to leave. Seeing the normally cocky Malfoy being so meek scared her. Was he leaving because of her, because of what she had said to him? Did he think he had to leave the room for her? Would he really do that? She wanted to say no, that wasn't Malfoy, but to be honest, she really didn't know what was Malfoy now. He had changed so much over the last few weeks - she had trouble keeping up.

But Ginny knew that she couldn't let him leave, so she reached out and grabbed his arm gently. His head rose quickly and his eyes met hers, his wide with shock. She tried to smile reassuringly, but wasn't sure how it came off. Instead, she just directed him back to his sitting position and gently sat him down, before joining him.

Silence fell over the two Hogwarts students, broken only by the howling wind up high in the west tower. When Ginny turned to regard him, he was staring at his hands resting on his bent knees, and the letter crumpled up within them.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Malfoy just shook his head, turning his face away from her; obviously ashamed she had found him in a weak moment. She was surprised; she didn't think he had weak moments. He was human after all.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ginny continued to press him.

"It's stupid," Malfoy mumbled.

"It doesn't matter," Ginny said, "sometimes stupid stuff bothers us. It isn't a weakness. It's just what makes us human. You can talk to me if you want, I promise I won't tell anyone."

"It's just..." Malfoy turned his head to face her again, then moved a hand over his face, wiping away tears, "my father. He's very strict. If I don't do well in school, he..."

Ginny was silent, letting him gather his courage.

"He...have you ever been hit with a Cruciatus Curse?" Malfoy asked, and Ginny couldn't stop herself from gasping. Was he saying his father used the Cruciatus Curse on him?

"No," Ginny said, her eyes wide, "but...are you saying?"

"Trust me," Draco laughed numbly, and Ginny hated the sound of it, "it isn't pleasant."

"I'm so sorry," Ginny murmured - and she was.

"Yeah," Draco said. "Me too. Anyway, if I don't get good grades, meaning, if I don't do better than all the Mudblo...Muggleborn's. Well, he doesn't like that. I'm supposed to uphold the honour and respect of the Malfoy name; not make a mockery of it, that's what he says. It's stupid. The Malfoy name doesn't have any honour left too it, not with most people. The only people who respect my father are the people he pays to respect him. It's ridiculous."

Ginny couldn't help but smile, though it was a little sadly. "I didn't know," Ginny said.

"Didn't know?"

"I didn't know you felt that way," Ginny clarified, "I thought...oh I'm so stupid. I thought you where just like him. But you're not, are you? You're different. You don't follow his rules. You're Harry's friend."

"Yeah," Draco said, meeting her eyes, "I am Harry's friend. That makes a difference to you?"

"Of course it does," Ginny said, "Harry's a hero. I don't believe what everyone else believes about him. Sure, he's a little creepy at times, all silent like, but he isn't a bad person. I never understood why he was friends with you, but I do now."

"Why do you believe in Harry?" Draco asked with interest in his eyes.

"Because he saved me in the Chamber of Secrets," Ginny said.

Draco was silent for a while, and then he smiled, for the first time since she had found him crying.

"We both did," Draco said, "remember? I was there too. When Harry was fighting the Basilisk, I was by your side, holding you. Don't you remember?"

"Oh..." Ginny's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, before she laughed and covered her eyes with her hand. "I don't really remember much, but I remember, or at least I thought I remembered Harry putting his arms around me. But it wasn't Harry," Ginny removed her hand, staring into Draco's eyes, "it was you."

"Surprise," Draco mumbled.

Ginny laughed. "I'm sorry," Ginny said, "I shouldn't be laughing. You're upset..."

"Not anymore," Draco whispered, then spoke up, "not since you sat down with me."

Ginny smiled. "I'm glad I could help."

"I'm glad you wanted too." And he smiled at her and Ginny felt her heart jump in her chest, butterflies exploding. What just happened?

(-----)

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