"And what would a Weasley be doing on her own in a dark corridor on Halloween?"
Damn, that's where the shiver was coming from, Ginny thought, he was following me. "What would a Mr. Malfoy be doing following a innocent Weasley like myself?" Ginny had her puppy dog eyes on when she turned to face him.
"I wouldn't call you 'innocent' myself, but you can knock yourself out."
"Malfoy, I don't have time for evil mind games, as much as you want to play them with me. Now move along," she requested.
"And what is a fifth year doing telling a sixth year prefect what to do?" Draco was trying not to show his amusement, with his half a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Oh, it's prefect against prefect now is it?" Ginny had a smirk on her face, which Draco thought was to his advantage.
"And people say you aren't evil?" Draco, unconsciously, moved towards Ginny. Ginny turned around with an expression of surprise (her mouth was hanging open). Then she composed herself and being one of the better quick-witted people in Gryffindor, she thought of a comeback. She slowly walked towards Draco and raised her hand.
Her hand lightly moved up his neck and her index finger flicked off the end of his chin, "What people don't know can't hurt them, can it, Draco?" saying the last word slowly so that he would catch it. She moved up against him, her head leaning back on his shoulder. She rubbed up against him.
"No, I suppose not. Although, now I'm wondering if you wanted me to move along before because you wanted to be alone or because you know you wouldn't be able to resist me?" Draco had his eyebrow up, a smirk at the corner of his mouth.
She pulled away from him and turned to face him. Ginny snaked her hands up around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. One like neither of them had had before. Ginny knew this and she knew Draco. When they pulled away, Ginny put her finger on Draco's lips before he could say anything. She pulled her hand back down and looked shattered. "No," Ginny managed to say. She turned around and walked down the corridor leaving Draco shocked.
See, the thing is that any girl at Hogwarts never told Draco no before. He wasn't use to getting rejected, especially when it came to the ladies. Draco being so shocked ran after her. A Slytherin running after a Gryffindor. It was unheard of. But Draco still did it. He grabbed her wrist and Ginny whirled round.
"What do you mean 'no'?" he asked annoyed.
"No."
"No to what?"
"To you. It just didn't do it for me," Ginny explained, smiling on the inside that she got Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin, to come running after her, a Gryffindor.
"But that was… that was something like I had never had before. And I know you felt it too."
"And what do you want me to do about it?" she asked.
"You could let me do it again, whenever I like," he hinted, sounding a lot like a child.
"Are you asking me out?"
"No! Well, uh – maybe," Draco finished quietly.
"Do you think this is some sort of game, Malfoy? That's what that was. A game." Ginny's voice was rising. "This isn't a game. We can't see each other. And if you don't know why, ask your father. Or You-Know-Know. I'm a Weasley, a Gryffindor, on Dumbledore's side. You're a Malfoy, a Slytherin, on You-Know—oh forget it—Voldemort's side. It wouldn't work! And you know the scariest thing: I want it too. I want it, so badly, I can't sleep at night knowing what you could be doing. What you will be doing," Ginny had tears threatening to pour out, but they didn't. Or they couldn't because she ran past him.
Draco walked slowly back to the Great Hall. He entered and sat at Slytherin table. The noise was inaudible. He tried to hear Ginny's voice, but it wasn't there. Draco looked towards the Gryffindor table. He searched up and down it looking for her. She wasn't there, and the worst thing was that Potter and his friends caught him looking, Weasley was starting to rise out of his sit. Draco sighed. It's too much, he thought. So he got up, and despite Blaise's curious looks, went out to the Entrance Hall and left the castle.
Ginny was sitting on a rock near the lake. Her legs were crossed, as the rock was flat enough to do that. She was thinking. Just thinking. About what she said to Draco. What Dean wanted. What she wanted. She didn't want to grow up. If these decisions were hard now, how hard would it be to be an adult? Her train of thought was broken when a certain someone stood on a stick and she turned around:
"Dean?"
Draco was shocked. He looked nothing like Thomas. Plus, why was she so ready to think it was Thomas when it could have been Potter, Granger, or even… him.
"No, it's Draco Malfoy. Now why would Thomas come and see you? You didn't go back to the Hall," Draco drawled.
"How the hell would you know?" she demanded.
"Because I was there myself."
"Oh," was all she said. Draco pulled himself up on the same rock as Ginny. She uncrossed her legs and put her head on his lap. Tears rolled silently down her face, "Why do you want me, Draco?"
"Because there is nothing else to do but want you. You make me think, not many people can do that well, except yo, obviously," Draco said relaxed, without a trace of fear or regret. They sat in silence for a while. But Draco, being Draco, bit the bullet and got to his point, quickly. "What you said before about it being a game. It's not a game. I never thought of it as a game with you. And it would work, if we tried."
"Secrets don't stay secrets for long."
"Then don't let it be a secret. Tell the world, I don't care –"
"That's just it Draco," Ginny sat up and stared into his eyes, "I do."
"I could change."
"Draco, you're a Malfoy, you don't change," Ginny said optimistically.
"No, Malfoys don't change for just anyone. I'd change for you."
"Say sorry."
"Excuse me?" Draco was confused.
"Say sorry. For all the things you've done over the years. For example, calling Hermione a mudblood –"
"She is one."
"Dray-co," Ginny whined, sitting up looking straight at him. "If you're going to change, the one thing that you have to do is just be nice to my friends. Harry, Hermione, my brother. Please."
"Ok, no more mudblood jokes. But say to me that Hermione is a mudblood."
"No. But yes, she's a muggle-born, we just don't use your term," Ginny said.
Draco leaned over Ginny and brushed her lips lightly. But in the back of Ginny's mind was the doubt that they would get caught. That Draco wouldn't keep his promise and change for her. That he would betray her.
"Hmm, yes," Ginny looked up and smiled at Draco.
"We should go in."
"You go, we don't want to get caught," she nipped his lips and Draco left. Ginny sat on the rock for many hours still. Not returning to Gryffindor Tower that night.