~Ch. 1- Hogwarts Express~

It had been a long run from the entrance to King's Cross Station to Platform 9 3/4, and the sixteen year old girl was out of breath by the time she reached it. Her suitcases felt enormously heavy, and she hated the fact that she didn't have an older brother, for once, to carry her things for her.

Her train from Beauxbatons had come late, causing her to have to run so she would be certain to make it to the platform for the Hogwarts Express in time. She only paused to catch her breath once her and her suitcases were safely on the platform and she was certain that the train was still there.

There were still a few students boarding, so the red-haired girl didn't feel so out of place as she brought her suitcases to where they were being loaded before she stepped onto the train. As she was making her way to the first cabin of the car, she barely managed to grab onto something as the train lurched to a start, slowly picking up speed.

Her gaze fell upon the cabin, where she made her way through, looking carefully for an unoccupied seat, hoping that she wouldn't be stuck next to some first-year who was into some sort of mischief. Heading into another compartment to search for a seat, she heard a voice calling out to her.

"Ginny!"

Virginia Weasley looked up and smiled as she saw the reflection of her smile on the face of Hermione Granger. A Hermione Granger with an empty seat next to her.

Ginny couldn't be happier. Sliding down into the seat next to her, she heaved a sigh of relief and paused to glance out the window at the passing landscape.

"I almost didn't think you were going to make it, Ginny. Ron was going crazy at the thought of you being left behind. He had some wild idea that something bad had happened to you in Beauxbatons or something. Thankfully, Harry was able to calm him down. They're up in the next cabin. I would have sat with them, but I figured you wouldn't have anyone to sit with when you came in."

Ginny couldn't help but smile at her consideration. Hermione was like the older sister she had always wished she had. It wasn't that she didn't like all of her brothers, but Hermione was usually the one she was able to go to for things she couldn't exactly talk about with guys.

"So," Hermione continued, looking over at her. "How was Beauxbatons, anyway?"

Ginny couldn't hide her grin. "I thought you'd never ask!" With that, Ginny went on to tell about her trip to Beauxbatons.

It had been Hermione's idea in the first place, for her to study over the summer. Ginny had been particularly gloomy at the thought of leaving Hogwarts at the end of the year, and summer promised to be terribly boring. What, with most of her brothers gone, save for Ron, the house felt empty. That was a feeling Ginny wasn't used to.

Hermione had suggested taking a trip to Beauxbatons. She had heard that they offered a summer program and had thought about going herself, but hadn't had the chance to.

So Ginny Weasley found herself traveling to Beauxbatons for the summer. And what a summer it was! Most of the students who were there were Beauxbatons students who had simply stayed on for the summer and had decided to take classes. Ginny felt like an ugly duckling around the graceful students, but by the end of the summer, all of that had changed.

In addition to a summer's worth of knowledge, Ginny had come home with something else. There was something about staying with all of the French students that blended into Ginny's personality, and Hermione noticed it too.

The ugly duckling had become a beautiful and very graceful swan.

But Ginny had also come home with something else besides grace. "Oh! Yes, there was something odd though." Holding out her wrist to Hermione, she showed the girl the bracelet. Silver, twisted into intricate, spiraling designs, it was certainly a very beautiful piece of jewelry.

"I found it." Ginny continued, staring at it a bit herself. "I don't know how it got there, but I found it in with my other jewelry when I was packing to leave. I guess some Beauxbatons student had a crush on me and gave it to me. They must not have had the courage to give it to me in person, is all I can think."

Hermione paused to look at her bracelet. "That's strange, you just finding it like that. Are you sure you didn't pick up someone's bracelet by mistake?"

Ginny nodded. "I'm certain. I didn't notice it until I was packing to leave, so they must have had to leave it that day or the night before." Hermione nodded, though the mystery of the bracelet still seemed to elude her.

"Whatever the case," Ginny said "It's a beautiful bracelet and I'm glad I have it." Her eyes trailed from the bracelet to the doorway to the next compartment. "So, what are Ron and Harry up to?"

*

The countryside rolled past the window of the Hogwarts Express, steaming its way to the north where the castle school resided, unknown to the Muggle world and famous in the wizarding one. The brightly colored crimson train was filled with the normal laughter and excited chattering of the returning and new students, all of them eager and happy to be returning to their 'home away from home' for another year.

All but one.

Draco Malfoy stared out of the rain-speckled glass, absently watching the overcast skies, watching the customarily green hills of England roll by in dismal shades of gray, painted in such shadowy hues by the lack of sunlight. Normally, the sight of the weather matching his mood in such a dramatic manner would have brought a smirk to his lips.

But not today.

Crabbe, an over-sized, under-brained fellow Slytherin, stuck his head into Draco's compartment, making some garbled comment about food or the other students or beating them in some manner. Draco didn't care enough to listen properly. He turned his head away from the window enough to fix Crabbe with his piercing glacier-blue eyes. He let all the coldness within himself rise to the surface for a fleeting moment, and let Crabbe catch a frightening glimpse of it.

"Get out," he told him flatly, no inflection to his voice.

Crabbe immediately complied, and the compartment door slid shut, leaving Draco alone with his thoughts and his dark brooding once again. His mind wasn't on Hogwarts. It was on his father. Specifically, his father's eyes. The eyes he had inherited.

The eyes that had looked so demented, so wild, so filled with burning blue flames on that night. The night Draco sometimes shivered to remember, yet he could recall everything, every detail of it, with perfect clarity.

It had been during the summer. Midnight on his seventeenth birthday. Lucius Malfoy had gone to his son, a glinting in his gaze that Draco had come to recognize and partially dread. Because every time his father got that look, the Death Eaters went on the hunt. And every time the Death Eaters went on the hunt, people were found the next morning, hurt.

Hurt very, very badly.

And on the eve of his birthday, Draco had been invited along.

He hadn't known what was going to happen. He hadn't known where they'd take him. He hadn't known the identity of the small Muggle child they'd captured and brought to one of their lairs. He hadn't known what they'd do to the child. Hadn't known the screams would freeze his blood in his veins, turn his stomach, make him clench his hands until his nails cut into his palms.

Lucius Malfoy had done most of the torture. He had a special 'gift' for it, as he liked to call it. He enjoyed it. He even invited his son to join him. That's when his eyes had looked like that, so crazed, so perverse, so… so wrong.

And that's when Draco began to fear for his own life. Because that's when he realized he would not be able to force himself to torture the Muggle child.

That's when he realized he hated his father… hated his life… hated himself.

*

After conversing some more with Hermione, Ginny smiled at the girl. "Save my spot, will you? I think I'm going to go find Ron so that he's certain I didn't get left behind."

Hermione grinned slightly, and nodded, prompting Ginny to get up and move carefully towards the next cabin. Opening the door and moving in, Ginny glanced around for the familiar red hair and freckles of her brother. Not finding that, she glanced about for another familiar head. Harry Potter.

Ginny couldn't explain it. There was always something about Harry that made her giggle like some young schoolgirl. Her crush wasn't as bad as it had been when she first came to Hogwarts, but whenever she saw The Boy Who Lived, she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if Harry ever returned her affections.

Still, despite all those years of a crush, Ginny had never told him. Hermione knew, Ron probably knew, but Harry didn't. Yet, even as Ginny scanned the seats for Harry, she found nothing.

But, that didn't mean that her search came up uneventful. As Ginny scanned around, she noted that the cabin was full of Slytherin. Ginny didn't really have a problem with Slytherin all the time, and she had even tried to befriend a few of them before, though with not much luck, but Ginny was rather disappointed to find the cabin she thought her brother and crush were in filled with none other than a bunch of Slytherin... more specifically, Crabbe and Goyle.

Hiding a groan, she made her way through the cabin to move to the next one. Hopefully this one would have Harry and Ron in it, and not another unpleasant surprise like the last one had.

*

Maybe it was the way Draco had been brought up, or who had brought him up, or just his own personality- but over the years Draco had become very, very good at lying. He could lie with his voice, his face, his gestures, even his eyes.

It was always a skill he'd been rather proud of, but that night, staring into his father's face, looking around the circle of Death Eaters, all of whom were waiting for him to give his answer, to take up his wand and help his father draw more shrieking screams of agony from the innocent child… Draco had felt no pride. He had felt sick. Physically sick.

The bile had risen to the back of his throat, as his heartbeat sped like the wings of a captured bird and sweat had trickled down the back of his neck. He had never felt so scared. And he knew irrevocably that his talent with lying was the only thing that could possibly keep him alive at that moment.

So he had lied. He shoved his fear and revulsion down into a deep, secret place within himself. He forced the timbre of his voice to be it's usual sarcastic, bored drawl.

"No thanks Father, I'd rather not. There's no sport left in the child, you've already done most of the work."

Lucius Malfoy had only laughed, clapping his son on the shoulders, excusing him. Acting for all the world like a proud father, for once. Instead of the domineering, harsh tyrant that he usually was. But Draco had continued his charade, continued his act throughout the rest of the summer.

But he felt dead inside. He couldn't get the face of the girl out of his thoughts. She haunted his nightmares, hers screams following him into wakefulness. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the blood… there had been so much of it…

Draco turned away from the window as his vision blurred, the hot tears burning their way down his cheeks.

Sliding the door open quietly and shutting it equally as quiet behind her, Ginny was surprised to find the cabin was empty. Or rather, almost empty. There was one lone figure in a lone seat in the cabin. And Ginny instantly knew who it was.

Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. The one who had made fun of her and Ron the entire time they had been at Hogwarts. Draco was the most intolerable Slytherin, and he had been so cruel to Hermione and Harry as well.

Ginny frowned as she realized she would have to pass him to get to Harry and Ron, but she pulled forth her courage. Draco wouldn't dare say anything taunting. And if he did, she'd show him.

Walking down the center aisle, row by row, she paused to glance at Malfoy, as if daring him to say something. But as soon as Ginny laid eyes on him, her mood changed.

Tears.

She had never seen Draco Malfoy cry, nor had she ever expected someone like him to even be capable of tears. And yet, she had stumbled in on him in some intimate moment, when he was most vulnerable.

And he looked so hurt. She couldn't just leave him like that.

So she did the only thing the compassionate Ginny Weasley could do. She sat down next to him, as gently as possible, placing a hand carefully on his shoulder so as not to startle him when he became aware of her presence.

"Draco? Are you alright? What's the matter?"

Draco almost jumped as he felt the touch on his shoulder, heard the voice of comfort when he least expected it. When he least wanted anyone around. Before he did anything, he quickly dashed the tears out of his eyes with the back of his hand, pretending they had never existed. Pretending there was nothing wrong. It was a dangerous game he was well used to playing by now.

Finally, he fixed his expression in a glare, looking over at whoever had disturbed him, prepared to give them a tongue-lashing like they'd never had before. He was startled when his gaze fell upon a lovely young woman, one he had never seen before, and yet, she was so familiar… her auburn red hair fell softly down her back and over her shoulders, and her green eyes were watching him with compassion.

Compassion. It startled him almost more than her touch. He barely recognized it. No one had ever felt compassion for Draco Malfoy before. And until that moment, as his heart clenched painfully within his chest, he hadn't realized just exactly how much he had wanted them to.

But he revealed nothing of his emotions, except for a brief flicker of his gaze. Her face at last registered to him. Memory returned. He knew this girl. He gathered himself, withdrawing to the familiar role. He could hide in insults, in cruelty. It was the only way that he was safe from his father.

He lifted his upper lip in a carefully calculated sneer. "Virginia Weasley," he drawled. "Come to beg for money?"

Suddenly, the rest of his taunts became stuck in his throat. He didn't want to say them. He just didn't have the energy or the will anymore. He turned away from her, making his voice cold. But he couldn't disguise the weariness in it. "Go away, Weasley. You're not wanted here."

Silently, Ginny wished she had more courage. There was so much she wanted to tell Draco at that moment. That it was okay to cry, that he didn't have to be alone if he didn't want to, that it was going to be alright.

Yet she couldn't. Not to Draco. Not to the one who had taunted her so cruelly before. She remembered clearly how many times he had made her cry, and it hurt just thinking of how bad some of his barbs were.

Yet, despite her anger towards him, she couldn't hate him. Even though he insulted her, she retained the same compassionate look, taking her hand off his shoulder and getting to her feet.

"No, I'm not begging. I was simply looking for Ron. Just passing through. You might not want me here, Draco, but I only want to make sure you're okay."

Turning for the doorway, she continued for it, hesitating before preparing to open the door. He said he wanted to be left alone, but something made her want to stay to make sure he was alright.

Draco stared at Ginny's back as she walked towards the door. Words rose up in his throat, words of apology, confession, all his secrets, his thoughts. But he bit them back, literally biting on his lower lip. He lowered his head, his fingers gripping tightly into his longish, white- blonde hair. Another trait that he shared with his father. Thus another thing to hate about himself.

He hunched over his legs, his elbows braced on his knees, his position almost that of someone who expects a heavy blow to rain down on them at any moment. And he did. He had been living with his terror ever since the night of his birthday. It stayed with him, every day, every hour, every minute. It was eating him alive.

After a minute, he realized he hadn't yet heard the sound of the compartment door shutting.

Standing in the doorway, Ginny couldn't quite make herself abandon Malfoy to his own. As much as he frustrated her, he also made her feel guilty, like he deserved much more, and no one could give it to him.

Turning back slowly, she only noticed Draco hunched up, and her compassion welled up again. Moving back towards him, she knelt down, examining him carefully.

It almost hurt, watching him. He actually looked sort of decent when he wasn't insulting everyone left and right. And he seemed so helpless in that moment, so lost. It awoke her curiosity as well as her sympathy. She had never even imagined she'd ever see Malfoy looking like that.

Glancing to him again, she made up her mind to stay, at least for a little while, even if he didn't know she was there. So, sitting down on the seat across from him, she simply let him grieve.

Draco felt Ginny there, still. Embarrassment flooded him, that she had caught him in a private moment once again.

But more than embarrassment, he felt afraid. That was the second time he'd been foolish enough to expose himself. Reveal vulnerability. To the Death Eaters- but most especially to his father- vulnerability meant weakness. And weakness meant nothing more or less than painful and immediate loss of life.

Slowly, very slowly, Draco lifted his head, looking at her. His thoughts raced, searching for a way to rectify his situation, to regain what he'd lost. His reputation was on the line.

A year ago, he would have wanted to salvage his reputation for it's own sake. Because he had been that guy. The bully. The cruel, wealthy, condescending snob. But now things had changed. He didn't give a damn about that anymore. He had much more important reason for desiring to keep his rep intact.

Because unless he remained the cruel, arrogant bully, he'd always been, Lucius Malfoy would become suspicious of him. Suspicious of his loyalties. Right now, only Draco's reputation and his lies were saving him from the same fate as the little Muggle child.

But something began to happen to him as he watched Ginny Weasley with his closely veiled expression. He actually started to calm down, to think clearly. Somehow he just knew, without knowing how he knew, that she wouldn't reveal his secret.

He relaxed a bit, straightening up. In spite of that insight, he still couldn't afford to do anything other than act as he normally would. Voldemort had spies everywhere. Draco leaned back against his seat casually, making his facial expression one of detached boredom and slight condescension.

"Still here, Weasley? Are all the other compartments full, or do you just have a sudden desire for my company?" He drawled sardonically, arching one pale eyebrow at her.

Despite Malfoy's words, Ginny felt as if it wasn't real. Malfoy was upset, that much was true, but something had changed in him, and it halfway scared her.

As Draco spoke to her, Ginny Weasley crossed her arms, watching him with a calm yet firm expression. She chose to answer his sarcastic comments literally. "The compartments are nearly full, yes, but not so much so that I would have to be forced to sit in here if I didn't want to."

She paused, then continued. "Nor do I have a sudden desire for your company, Draco Malfoy, and I'm certain that you have no desire of the same. However, I am simply concerned for a fellow student's well being, and so, putting personal differences aside, I am sitting here still instead of finding my brother and Harry."

Her expression had softened slightly by then, but there was still that firm resolve in her eyes. "Draco, I don't know what's going on with you right now, but I can tell that something is wrong. If you ever need to talk to someone, personal differences aside, I'm always around."

She looked out the window for a moment, then back at him. "And when I say that, I don't mean that you have to like me or that I have to like you at all. I know that sometimes it's just hard to keep things bottled in. And if you ever need to let off some steam and talk, you can talk to me. Plus, if it makes you feel better, I'll even cast a spell afterwards to make me forget anything you said."

Knowing that Draco would almost instantly turn down the deal without having the chance to think about it, Ginny got to her feet, moving out of the compartment. "Don't just brush it off. Think about it. Don't even give me an answer. Just come to me if you need someone to listen."

Moving into the next compartment, Ginny felt a sudden surge of sympathy for Draco. She had never seen him with any good "friends" and Crabbe and Goyle couldn't possibly be very good to talk to. Mentally, she wondered if Draco even had anyone he could open up to freely.

Shrugging it off, she slipped out of the compartment and shut the door behind her. If Malfoy needed her help, then he would come for it. There was no need for Ginny to worry over the topic more.

And so her gaze fell upon the next compartment, scanning it for Ron and Harry.

*

This time, she had really gone. But not without leaving something behind. For a long while, Draco's eyes rested upon the door she had exited through just as quietly as she had come.

Regret cut through him sharply, leaving behind yet another bleeding and aching wound. It would be so much easier if he could just remember how to feel as he once had felt. To get back his sense of arrogant superiority. To be the Draco Malfoy that had sneered at everyone, Muggle and Mudblood and Wizards alike, convinced everyone was beneath him, that he was better than them all.

To be the Draco Malfoy that enjoyed nothing more than to find just the exact right thing to say to make someone feel as low and as worthless as dirt.

To be the Draco Malfoy that admitted fear to nothing, not even to himself.

To be the Draco Malfoy who had actually looked forward to his secret lessons in Dark Arts with his father. But… as he thought about it, even then, he had worked hard at the forbidden magick's not to gain mastery of them… but rather just to gain his father's approval. To get a moment of praise from him. Perhaps that's why things had changed for him that night. He wanted nothing to do with his father anymore. Couldn't even look him in the eye anymore.

Draco's mind went back to Ginny, to her kind and selfless offer. She didn't have to do anything like that for him. She owed him nothing. In fact, for all the things he'd said to her and her family, she should have taken the opportunity to kick him while he was down. Of course he couldn't even consider telling her what was bothering him. Far too dangerous. The regrets cut him again. If only, if only…

*

Ginny fought off the urge to go back and keep Draco company in that sole, empty compartment, but the prospect of seeing her brother and his best friend, whom she hadn't seen all summer, won out.

She was dying to see how they had both changed with the passing summer. She wondered if she would even be able to recognize Ron and Harry as she scanned the cabin.

But there was no mistaking the fiery-red hair she saw sitting three rows up. A grin spread across her face as she moved up the center, making her way to where they sat.

Peering over at them, she smiled when she caught her brother's gaze, halting his conversation. "Missed your little sister, Ron, or have you forgotten about me already?"

Ron and Harry both glanced up at the same time, and identical looks of surprise came over their faces, although after a moment, Harry's turned into something a bit more… appreciative. "Hey, Ginny," He said, his bottle green eyes looking her over. "Look at you." Over the summer, the timbre of his voice had deepened slightly, and his black hair seemed a bit longer but still untidy as ever.

Ron glanced at his best friend then back to his little sister. He, too, had grown out his hair somewhat, and now he had a short ponytail, tied at the base of his neck like their older brother Bill. He was looking now towards Ginny in relief. He reached forward and pulled her into a quick hug. "So you didn't miss the train! I thought I was going to have to borrow Harry's Firebolt and fly back for you." He pulled back and tugged on a lock of her darker red hair. "So, what happened at Beauxbatons? None of those flighty French wankers tried to hit on my little sister did they? Because they'll have six older brothers to deal with, if so. And Fred and George are really good with bats."

Ginny's grin only widened as she hugged Ron, and she looked up at him. "You wouldn't have really flown back for me, would you have?" She can't help but hug him tighter at that. "Hermione told me that you were worried, but I didn't think you would do something like that." She smiled over to Harry over Ron's shoulder, but then looked back to him.

"Hit on me?" Ginny couldn't help but snicker at the thought. "Well, no, not really. But someone did slip this into my things... someone rich must have had a crush on me." Pulling back the sleeve, she reveals her wrist. Having a bad feeling that Ron will take it the wrong way, she decides to change the subject quickly.

"So, Harry, how was your summer?"

At her question, Harry went off about the fantastic time he'd had at a Quidditch training camp over the summer, where recruiters from all the best teams came to look at future prospects; then Ron piped in with his own adventure, tagging along with Bill treasure-hunting in China, which helped to explain the sudden new hair style. After a while, Hermione joined them, and they finally they got around to grilling Ginny for the details of her trip to Beauxbatons (where Ron only casually brought up Fleur Delacour's name two times).

But before long, the train was slowing down, and the call came to make sure they had their uniform robes on as they'd be arriving soon. The Hogwarts Express pulled into it's station, and students began piling out as fast as possible, eagerly awaiting the coming start-of-the-year feast, while the new students pondered their upcoming Sorting with the dread of the unknown.

They got into the small horseless carriages that would drive them the rest of the way to school, while Hagrid followed the traditions of separating out the first-years and taking them across the lake in their little boats.

Draco was one of the last to leave the train. He stood for a minute, eyeing the distant castle while a chill autumn breeze blew his black robes about him, making him shiver slightly. He didn't want to think about what was going to happen in the coming months. What Voldemort and the Death Eaters had in store for this place. He grasped for a sense of detachment, of indifference, but it eluded him. At last he ducked into one of the carriages. Alone. Again.

Getting into a carriage with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Ginny couldn't help but wonder about Draco. As the three chatted on about their summers, continuing the conversation from the train, Ginny let her mind wander.

This would be the last year she would see Draco. The final year, and then he'd be off doing who knows what. Chewing on her lip, she stared out the window, ignoring the conversation of the three altogether. It was beginning to bug her now, and she mentally vowed that she would be as nice to Draco as possible for the next year... no matter what. She would probably never be able to see him again after school was over for the year.

Sure she had another year to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, but for Draco, it would be a very stressful year. For Harry and Ron too, but she was fairly certain they were already pretty set on what they wanted.

Draco, on the other hand, Ginny couldn't be so sure of. Would he be a Death Eater? Would he turn away? Would she ever have to fight him? She shivered at the thought. Draco could be mean, but she didn't hate him. She wasn't snapped out of her deep thoughts until the carriage stopped. She stepped out of the carriage, staring at the school before her.

Hogwarts awaited them, and she wasn't one to keep it waiting.

*