It was the end of their Potions lesson, and Professor Severus Snape finally let them go. With a deep sigh, Ginny picked up the pile of homework, almost kneeling from the weight of it. The seventh years were coming into the classroom, making Ginny feel very small. The Slytherins whispered and pointed at her, at her red hair.

"Look at that," someone said. "It's one of the Weasels." The Gryffindors, almost all of them friends to her brother Ron and Harry Potter, gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't mind them, Ginny," they said and took their places by the desks.

"Are you coming, Gin?" Luna Lovegood asked irritably. The Ravenclaw student was standing in the doorway, wanting for her. She frowned.

"You can't take all day, you know, the others are about to start their lesson."

"Yeah, Luna, just give me a sec," Ginny answered. "I'll just take my things." She heard Luna sigh and hurried after her. Carrying all her things in her arms, she could see very little and almost hit the doorway. Outside the dungeon, Ginny heard Harry and Ron, who were coming directly from their History of Magic class. They were talking very fast and seemed annoyed over a thing that the ghost and History of Magic- teacher Professor Binns had talked about.

"And he just went on and on about that stupid Goblin-war, I bet nobody except Hermione will remember anything of it on the exams..."

That was Ron, her elder brother and the only Weasley attending at Hogwarts except herself. And his friend, Harry Potter.

"Be happy that he just went on and on, Ron, McGonagall said that we have to be more careful now that we have entered the more difficult parts of Transfiguration. Not to talk about Snape, he wants to give us all a D, that's for sure..."

They came running around the corner, and Harry almost ran into Ginny.

"Oops, I'm sorry, Gin!" Harry called to her while he was hurrying into Snape's classroom, and slammed the door shut. Professor Snape's cold voice greeted the seventh years, and as the Potions lesson began, Ginny could hear the students sigh deeply.

Ginny sighed too and drew her hand through her red hair. She had forgotten to put it up into a tail this morning, and as it soon was lunch, she didn't bother too much. She would run up to her dormitory and fetch a hair slide. She got blinded for a second and couldn't see where she was going. She got the irritating hair out of the way, and heard Luna shout at her, "Okay, Ginny, I'm out of here. I have to run if I'm going to get to the library in time!"

"Yeah, all right!" Ginny yelled back. She opened her bag to look for her diary, the one that Harry, Ron and Hermione had given her last Christmas. She loved it, mostly because they had guaranteed her that it was not affected by Lord Voldemort. She'd had a thing for diaries all since her first year at Hogwarts. A bit stupid, really, but what could she do?

She found the little book at the bottom of her bag, and picked it up to pocket it. She fumbled with her robe, trying to get both it and the bag out of the way. She didn't look where she was going, and once more the hair got in her face.

Suddenly she heard footsteps, and she bumped into someone, who cursed her as if she was the Devil herself. She fell to the floor, and, finally removing her hair while rubbing her back, she looked right up in the face of Draco Malfoy, who, obviously, was late to Potions.

"Look where you're going, Weasel," he snarled. She stared at him, still sitting on the floor with all her books, quills and inkbottles all around her.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" he sighed and reached out a hand to help her up. She took it and got to her feet. She looked at him, with a thousand thoughts whirling around in her head. One of them suddenly struck her; his eyes were grey. That was actually the first thing she realized when she took a good look at him. Grey and warm, not so cold and ironic, as she would have imagined. They showed not despite, not compassion, but something else. Something warm.

Then her senses caught up with her. She could feel the warmth from his body, the warmth from his breath. They were standing close together, and she felt his scent; a light, masculine scent all around him. His breathing was a bit fast; his eyes were bright and the beautiful curve of his lower lip and chin made her feel a bit off track. She seemed to have lost all ability to talk.

Suddenly, the door to Snape's classroom flung open and Professor Snape looked out in the corridor. He frowned when he caught sight of them.

"Mr Malfoy, get in here immediately!" he snapped. "And Ms Weasley! I believe that you have another lesson to get to?"

He slammed the door shut and the connection that Ginny thought she had felt between her and Malfoy was completely lost.

"Get out of my way, Weasley," he snarled, avoiding her eyes. She threw him an amazed look, but sat down on her knees, picking up the papers, books and quills from the stone floor. She could hear him walk to the door, then his footsteps were gone and she assumed that he had walked into the classroom. But suddenly he kneeled at her side, helping her collect all her things.

"My God, you have a lot of things in that bag," he mumbled, and gave her a pile of papers.

"It's my life," she answered, and blushed when she realized how pathetic that had sounded. But he smiled.

"Welcome to the world of Hogwarts, Weasel." He looked at his wristwatch. "You've made me late," he said, looking up at her. "Again," he added.

"Run, then," she said, and turned her back at him. "Thanks for your help." She felt his hand on her shoulder.

"You're welcome, Ginny."

Their eyes met and they couldn't let go of each other. He leaned forwards, hesitated, and then kissed her hastily on the mouth. He withdrew, and hurried down the corridor, opening the door to the classroom and received an angry Snape shouting at him. Before he closed the door, he looked at Ginny and smiled. She smiled back at him, then turned around and walked back along the corridor, feeling very satisfied.