There he was, waiting outside the walls of Gryfindor's changing room, just as she'd expected. Elated by her recent victory, she quickly glanced around to make sure no one was near, and ran to him, kissing him before he could even say hello.

"I did it!" she squealed as they broke apart, and she looked excitedly into his blue eyes. The pitch was almost entirely dark now.

He smiled, briefly. "I know…except I can't say I'm too thrilled about Gryfindor winning anything. I was sure it would be Slytherin this year…" he trailed off, teasing her.

"Slytherin sucks," she countered automatically. "I didn't see you at the game." It was a statement that was meant as a question, yet it was hopeless either way. Draco shrugged, not offering any information. It was better this way, she knew, but she still felt so damn curious. Still, winning the House Cup for Gryfindor outweighed the curiosity and she couldn't help but accept his secrecy and kiss him again.

"Say Gryfindor is the best."

"I will never say that."

"Fine. Then say I'm the best. Seeker, that is," she added, not really wanting to face what he would say if she asked him to tell her just the first part.

He laughed and brought her lips to his. He gently pushed her up against the wall of the changing rooms and deepened the kiss, running his hands through her long hair. "Fine, Weaslette. You're the best seeker. This year," he teased as they came up for air, not wanting to give in. She smiled and grabbed his tie, pulling him back to crash his lips down on her's.

"I'm glad you're seeing sense," she murmered as they broke apart.

"I'm sure Potter's thankful it was you they chose to take his spot. I will gladly say that anyone is a better seeker than him." He pulled her close to him again and trailed kisses down her jaw in between words.

Ginny laughed softly. Harry's name made her remember something she'd been trying to avoid...but Draco brought her back to reality.

"How are those detentions of his going? Miserable, I hope?" he asked in between kisses.

She pulled away from him slightly and raised an eyebrow.

"You…poor…thing…" she said slowly as she trailed her fingers down the spots on his chest where fresh scars lay from a recent bathroom encounter. He laughed and was leaning down to kiss her once again when he suddenly jerked his head up and stared back toward the castle. Ginny couldn't help but sigh in frustration. For the last week Draco had been nothing but distracted and, well, absent. She had the sinking feeling that whatever his mission was this year at Hogwarts, it was getting more intense and sinister than ever. When Draco Malfoy suddenly stops sneaking through your dormitory window at night, something's up. As he pulled away from Ginny, she noticed him rub his left forearm in the most inconspicutive of ways.

"You have to go," she stated, resigned. Of course she was dying to ask him what in the name of Merlin he was off to go do, but they'd had that argument many times before. She would lose, and in the end he would still leave.

He pulled her towards him for what she knew would be their last kiss for this time; at least until they found some other secret place to meet or he decided he wasn't too bloody busy to stop by her window that night. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, as if that would make him stay.

He pulled away too soon. "Sorry," he mumbled simply and turned to leave. Ginny was struck by a feeling of emptiness, just like everytime he had to leave her. This whole secret-forbidden love thing was starting to become over-rated. She let him get about ten feet before she called him back.

"Draco, wait," she blurted out suddenly. He turned and looked at her expectantly as she walked toward him. She knew she shouldn't play this game with him, but she needed to tell him; to see his reaction. She crossed her arms and looked down.

"They're…they're pushing me..." the words stumbled out.

She ran her hand through her long red hair, a nervous habit. Biting her lip, she tried to control her speech. "They want me to be with Harry. Ron and Hermione. They're pushing me to be with him," she finished bluntly, looking at the ground and then finally meeting his steely gaze.

His jaw clenched yet he remained perfectly still. Resolute, he nodded.

Not exactly how she though he would react to the name of the boy who had recently given him several new scars on his chest.

"That's a good match. It makes sense," he rationalized politically, his eyes not betraying any emotion. He handled the news the way he would look at a simple mathematics problem: subtracting her from himself and adding her to Harry because that's to what logic would point.

But obviously, Ginny was sick of logic. Draco must be too, or they wouldn't be doing what they were doing. Her eyes searched for some hint of emotion, some clue that he would care about losing her, but she didn't see it. The fledgling hope she once held began to dim.

"Oh please," she scoffed, drawing herself closer to him. "Can we stop being Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy for a half a second and just be ourselves? Just be you," she pleaded more frantically, running her fingers through his hair. "What do you think? Are you really so okay with that? Do you even care?"

He slid out of her arms and drew more distance between them.

Draco had seen this conversation coming ever since his last unfortunate Occulmacy lesson with his lovely aunt Bellatrix had steered in the wrong direction when he failed to block the memory of some stolen hours with Ginny in her dormitory one night. Yes, in these last few weeks, somehow, by some strange turn of events that he still couldn't really believe had happened, he began to fall for Ginny Weasley.

Yet, as Bellatrix had put it, "No Malfoy really loves a blood-traitor." Maybe it had been the stress of his current mission; maybe it had been the need to get back at his father for messing up, getting thrown into Azkaban, and leaving Draco to pick up the pieces.

Maybe those few Crutacius curses had done the job Bella intended and knocked some sense into him.

"I need you to understand something, Gin," he began softly, but strongly. She had a strange feeling that he had been preparing the upcoming speech for awhile."The time I've been spending with you has been good. It's allowed me periods where I have the pleasure of ignoring who I am…and what I have to do. I like to be with you and I care about you, I do," he confirmed at Ginny's look of disbelief. "But you need to know that as much as I like to ignore those things, I am Draco Malfoy and you are Ginny Weasley. We both know what those names mean, and we can't ignore it forever. I cannot and I will not blow off the responsibilities that come along with my name and my family, and you shouldn't either."

Ginny closed her eyes as the sting of his words washed over her.

She knew that he was right.

They had both gone into this knowing it would have an expiration date.

She suddenly realized she'd made the mistake she swore herself she wouldn't when she got into this. Ginny suddenly couldn't believe she'd actually let herself somewhat fall for Draco. Somewhere along the lines of this relationship she'd crossed one, and she was determined to step back.

She opened her eyes and met his intense gaze.

"You're right," she concluded, her voice cracking a little. She took a deep breath as a tear fell down her cheek. "I'm sorry, I suppose I lost track of reality…I just wish…" she sighed, trailing off and shaking her head. Draco wiped the tear away.

For a second, Ginny could swear she saw a hint of sadness in his eyes as he said, "I know." And then the moment was over. He was off, to fulfill his responsibilities as Draco Malfoy—ones that most likely included Death Eaters and the Dark Lord.

And as she walked back to the Gryfindor common room, she was bound and determined to fulfill her responsibilities to a House Cup party and a certain Green-Eyed boy.