"Does that bother you?" Draco's voice startled Ginny.
She had been sitting on a slope with a good view of Pansy and Harry having tea.
"No, we are friends, family, really. It was a lovely thought, but it would never be a grand passion. I'm not ten years old anymore, and Harry is a wonderful person, but not for me." Ginny had obviously thought things through. "Does it bother you?"
"No. I told her Potter would be reasonable. She was deathly afraid of talking to him, and look at them now." Draco replied smugly.
"Did you want them together?" Ginny was fascinated at this point. She was quite sure that Draco had an ulterior motive.
"No, I just wanted Harry, I mean Potter, to talk to her, because then maybe people would stop treating the Slytherins like second class citizens. If they see him forgive her, then maybe they will no longer treat us like pariahs." Draco was not sure why he was telling the little redhead all of this, but she didn't seem to mind, and she was listening.
Ginny was amazed by the depth of Draco's thoughts. She had kind of written the blond off as a spoiled brat who couldn't think for himself. After all, wasn't that why he had become a Death Eater in the first place?
Draco could almost see Ginny's thought process. For some reason he wanted to impress her. He wanted her to see that he was a real person, not a caricature or a shallow spoiled child.
"What do you think? Do you think it will help?" Draco asked Ginny quite earnestly.
"I think if she can behave properly with EVERYONE, not just Harry, then yes, it will help. Same with you, and the rest of the Slytherins. Try to get to know people, maybe apologize to Hermione, be sincere. It should help." Ginny had thought about the whole situation quite a bit.
"Of course I'm going to apologize to Hermione. That witch is scary. And she's sleeping with the headmaster. It is politically expedient to..." Draco stopped when Ginny whacked him with her book bag.
"OK, that is exactly what I mean you shouldn't do." Ginny laughed at the look on Draco's face. "Hey look, they have berry tarts! Let's go join them!"
And they did.