Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Harry Potter. This idea has kinda been kicking around in my brain for a while now, and I've worked on it the last few days. Please, give me your honest opinions. :) I know it isn't the best, but I'm working on my writing. This might turn into a three-shot, but for now, it's done.


The castle got lonely sometimes. It was odd to think about, Hogwarts, filled with hundreds of people, getting lonely. But it did. Just as her house did, even when all six of her brothers still lived at home. She guessed it had something to do with all her self isolation. Like tonight, sitting out by the lake. The water lapped against the shore, a soft beating drum to her ears. And even though it was past curfew, she still sat, with her arms wrapped around her legs, watching the water. Even when the world was falling apart, the water stayed steady. It came, and it went, but it stayed in the lake, always there, always a constant in her life. Just like Hogwarts. Even with the outside world being ravished, Voldemort raising Hell, the Carrows inside the castle, the castle itself remained the same.

It hadn't felt too bad until recently. Maybe it had something to do with the holiday's; no one had been able to return home, and it wasn't festive as normal. There were no beautiful Christmas trees, no real presents, the Feast wasn't as grand as normal, and there was no Dumbledore there to bring the merry-ness that he always did. The other teachers tried their best, but there was only so much they could do without risking their jobs, and ability to remain there for the students.. Maybe her parents had been right. Maybe she should've stayed home..

"Well well well.. What do we have here?" Fuck. She'd know that voice anywhere, the slow drawl, contempt dripping off of every word. It was the 'esteemed' Head Boy, the Slytherin King, probably with some of his cronies. Slowly raising her eyes from the water while simultaneously swiveling to face his voice, Ginny quickly took the scene in.

There, standing center, was of course Draco Malfoy. Tall, lean, with muscles formed over the years of intense quidditch training. His blonde hair was longer than usual, though still slicked mostly to the side, and his eyes. The molten gray was intense, inspecting her as well. There was no way he could've known it was her; she was wearing a new black cloak from the twins, with the hood up hiding her vibrant hair. Behind him on his left was Theodore Nott, more commonly known as Theo. He was slightly shorter than Malfoy, but much thicker, with strong muscles, almost like Crabbe and Goyle - but from what she'd heard, he actually had a head on his shoulders. On his right was Blaise Zabini, who was almost a dark version of Draco; tall and lanky, though his hair was shorter and he had more of a 'pretty boy' look, instead of the sharp, pointed 'handsomeness' that all the girls saw in Draco.

Slowly rising, her hand drifted towards her wand, which was at this point in her life almost permanently strapped to her thigh, only to be stopped by a decisive snort. "Don't even think about it, Weaslette." His voice was smooth, deep and slow, and Ginny's chocolate eyes met Theo's green ones.

"Why are you out here alone, hm? And where did you get this cloak.. There's no way your mother could have afforded it." With a wrinkle of her nose, she switched her eyes to Draco as he moved closer, reaching out to pinch the fabric between his long fingers.

"Fred and George gave it to me for Christmas. Are you done insulting me, or are you going to drag me to the Carrows' so I can hear it from them as well?"

Stepping back with a jerk of her shoulder, Ginny let out a frustrated noise when she stepped into the water, quickly moving to the side and farther up the coast of the lake until the four were standing parallel to it, her wand now firmly gripped in her hand having shot of drying spell towards her shoes, not fancying the idea of walking around with the freezing water soaking through.

"I won't take you to the Carrows." Draco finally broke the silence, and Ginny couldn't help the hope from brightening her eyes, though she quickly shut it down. There was a catch. There's always a catch with this crew, she'd seen it in action constantly over the last six years. And so, she asked. There was no way she'd willingly jump into .. whatever it was they wanted, without first finding out what it was they wanted.

And the answer, coming from Blaise, who'd thus far been quiet, made Ginny raise an eyebrow, staring at him with an incredulous look on her face. 'Be one of us. Just for the night.' .. What does that even mean? What do they want from me? She kept her eyes trained on them, though they flicked back and forth among the three of them. There was no way to tell what exactly it was they wanted; but she was in no position to turn them down. Not when it was them, or the Carrows.

".. Why not?" Her answer was timid, and she slowly returned her wand to her thigh, strapping it back in quickly with the ease of someone who'd done it thousands of times.

"Perfect."

"I knew you'd see it our way."

"Let's go."

What did I get myself into?!

The thoughts swarmed her mind as Draco slid up on one side of her, Blaise on the other, guiding her back towards the castle. This isn't going to end well. Ginny, Ginny how could you be so stupid? What were you thinking? Why would you do that? The thoughts swarmed her mind as she nervously smiled, letting out little agreeable noises where fit in the conversation. And before long, they were standing in front of a set of double doors, and Draco stepped forward, holding onto both handles and drawling out a slow, "Aldhibah."

As the doors swung open, Ginny couldn't help it as her mouth fell open. The first room was open, with a large fireplace, with a large, comfy looking silver couch facing it. There were a few beanbags around it, green, and drapes were all over the wall, spaced out with flaming torches and small tables scattered throughout the room. All in all, it had a very Slytherin-vibe, right down to the bottles of Firewhisky and other alcoholic beverages, including but not limited to Giggle Water, rum, tequila, and different meads and brandys. Raising her eyebrows with a snort, Ginny continued to survey the room. On either side there were two more sets of double doors, both were firmly closed though, so who knew what were behind them, though she guessed one lead to Draco's room; she had no idea what the other set led to though. Slowly taking off her cloak, she carefully hung it on the rack near the door, and unknown to her, Draco took in her appearance with a low, appreciative whistle. She had on a pair of white jeans that hugged her in all the right places, paired with a loose, dark green pullover that hung off a shoulder and a pair of black boots that went halfway up her calves. All in all it was a simple, but together it worked for her.

Especially that green.

The rest had already shed their cloaks and made the way over to the couches, Draco shooting a quick spell at the low fire to bring it back up to full power. Slowly wandering over, Ginny flopped herself down into a bean bag, turning to the pale git himself with a small smirk. "So, this is what the Head Boy's common room looks like. Is the Firewhisky provided, or did you sneak that in yourself?"

Blaise's snort broke not only his calm composure, but most of the tension also. "Come on, Weaslette. Being Head Boy is very stressful. No one can blame dear Drake here for.. Indulging." The double entendre in his words was clear, and even caused her to crack a small grin.

"Oh, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Zabini?" His hand shot to his heart, mouth dropping open slightly. He slowly rose to his feet, making his way to the alcohol, hooking four mugs onto his fingers and grabbing a bottle of Ogden's firewhisky. "I would never. Theo over here however.." Making his way back, he quickly poured the four glasses, and Ginny watched, slowly downing the drink. Throughout the night, Ginny slowly toed off her shoes, kicking them towards the door and steadily working on becoming absolutely smashed.

Ginny wasn't sure what Blaise had meant by 'being one of us for the night', but she damn sure didn't expect to wake up the next morning in a feathery-soft bed, wrapped up in a blanket, missing her pants with an arm over her waist. And she didn't know what would happen from here, but she also knew that last night had felt right in a way she couldn't describe.